


Wants and Don't Wants

by fishstic



Category: The Wicked Years Series - Gregory Maguire, Wicked - All Media Types
Genre: "asexual the world's simplest concept that no one understands", Abuse, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, F/M, Gen, Mentions of Rape, Multi, an asshole with a big mouth, aromantic bisexual fiyero, asexual elphaba, comissioned, correctional rape, i do not condone the actions of some of my characters (looking at you Avaric and you too Frex), nonbinary elphaba
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-31
Updated: 2015-09-04
Packaged: 2018-03-20 15:43:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 27,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3655842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishstic/pseuds/fishstic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For 16 years Elphaba and Glinda have lived together in harmony, neither taking more than the other can give nor giving more than the other can take, but all that changed when Fiyero came over to ask about a rumor that turned out to be true. Now Elphaba's life gets turned on its head and it's all she can do to keep from drowning in the sea of things that are suddenly going wrong --or right, depending on who is being asked.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Elphaba looked around the room trying to decide what to do. It was almost 3am, really dark but she found herself unable to sleep. As she often did. She could lay there for a long while just holding Glinda close. After a while though she would grow restless, she always did. Her mind begged to be occupied, begged to have something to do. _"Please,"_ it said _"read something. Think something. I'm bored!"_

After a while her only choice became do something or go stir crazy. Glinda knew of this little flaw, but did not mind. She loved Elphaba no matter what.

Elphaba gently detangled herself from Glinda and headed into the kitchen. 

_“Maybe,”_ her brain said. _“You should make a cake.”_

Elphaba paused, the door of the refrigerator hanging open, her hand resting on the milk container. “A cake?” she voiced, she had been wanting cocoa until her brain made that thought.

_“Yes,”_ her brain responded. _“You know you want cake.”_

Elphaba sighed, her brain was strangely right. She did want cake. She really did. And she knew exactly what kind of cake she wanted too. Carrot cake. But first she wanted her cocoa. So she pulled the milk container out and got a pot out of one of the cabinets, which she then sat on the stove top. She measured out some milk, about three-fourths the glass she wanted to drink out of, into the pan via the cup then slowly heated it up with some cinnamon. After it was hot enough to dissolve the cocoa powder she then poured it into the glass carefully, stirred in the powder and smiled contentedly as she took the first sip of it. Once she was satisfied with that she turned off the stove, rinsed out her pot and put the milk back in the fridge.

She decided then it was time to gather up the cake ingredients. So from the fridge she pulled out a few carrots, and the eggs for the cake itself then the butter and cream cheese for the frosting. She set those on the table, where there was already an orange in the fruit bowl, and some pecans beside it. The dry ingredients were next, they were in the cabinet. Flour, sugar, spices, baking powder and baking soda. Those were transferred to the table and then from the cabinet the pot came out of she got two eight in round cake pans and a baking sheet. She also remembered she needed some oil, which she got from the flour cabinet. And finally she was ready to begin making the cake.

The first step was simple, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spread the pecans, about a cup of them, over the baking sheet and stuck it in the oven so the pecans could become lightly baked and golden. Then she prepared the two cake pans by lightly flouring and oiling the sides and putting baking paper on the bottom, though she didn’t remember pulling it out of the cabinet. Next she pulled the pecans out of the oven when they were nice and golden.

The next step was a little more difficult, she couldn’t find the two bowls she needed to mix the ingredients in, or the sifter.

At some point Glinda was alerted to Elphaba’s absence in the bed, not that it really bothered her much, but the loud clang and bang of pots falling out of one of the kitchen cabinets followed by Elphaba’s voice, “fucking hell, that hurt”, did. Glinda sleepily got up out of the bed and walked into the kitchen.

“Elphie, are you alright?” she asked quietly, trying not to giggle at the sight of her best friend trying to balance three stock pots in one arm while trying to get at the mixing bowls that were at the back of the cabinet.

“Yeah, Glin, I’m fine, sorry if I woke you,” Elphaba said sounding just as sleepy as Glinda was.

“Let me help Elphaba, carrot cake is a two person job,” Glinda said walking into the kitchen and taking the pots out of Elphaba’s arms.

Elphaba sighed but nodded. She was kind of glad that Glinda had come to help, she still wasn’t entirely sure why her brain decided to make carrot cake at three in the morning. She pulled the two bowls out finding that the sifter was in the one on top.

“We really need to find more reliable places to store things,” Elphaba said with a small yawn.

“Elphie, these things are always in the exact same place, your brain just isn’t functioning as good as it does when it’s not tired,” Glinda said with a smile.

“I believe you,” Elphaba said. She placed the bowls on the table and then took the pots from Glinda and put them back in the cabinet.

“I know it’s pretty normal that you’re up so late,” Glinda said. “But I’m curious, why carrot cake at three fifteen in the morning?”

“I’m not sure, my brain told me I wanted cake and I was like yes brain I do, and then I started making carrot cake. My original plan was cocoa then maybe a short walk outside or reading some more of my book.”

Glinda smiled a little and hugged Elphaba gently. “Alright let’s make this cake.”

Elphaba smiled back, and gave Glinda a quick hug in return. That helped settle her brain some, it was familiar, and easy. Comforting too, if she’d ever admit that to herself. “You take the eggs and oil and do that thing, and I’ll mix up the dry ingredients,” Elphaba said.

Glinda nodded soon they had together made the cake batter and were pouring it between the two cake pans. Glinda set the timer for thirty minutes. Then they sat down together in the doorway between the kitchen and living room. Glinda was sitting in Elphaba’s lap, with Elphaba gently tracing little circles over her arms with her fingers.

“Elphie, do you remember the day we became friends?”

“I do.”

“Do you remember why we became friends?”

“I do.”

“Why did we become friends?”

“As I recall, I showed you kindness despite the horrible things you’d said about me and the way you treated me and then you realized that I was just misunderstood and not bad. As they say all that glitters isn’t gold and all that’s green isn’t mold.”

“I’ve never heard that last part,” Glinda chuckled.

“But it does fit, doesn’t it.”

“It does, Elphie.” Glinda smiled and rested her head on Elphaba’s chest for a moment. “Elphie, can I ask you a question?”

“Of course,” Elphaba said still tracing circles on Glinda’s arm.

“Why didn’t you say yes when Fiyero asked you out?”

She paused in her tracing, not having expected that question. “Because I don’t feel the same about him as he does about me. I’ve explained it before.”

“Explain it again, I just want to hear your voice,” Glinda said sleepily.

“Fiyero isn’t interested in romance, Glin,” she said returning to tracing circles. “Not the same way I am. He doesn’t want romance. He never did. He knows how to appreciate the romantic gestures people make, but he doesn’t desire them. He’s aromantic.”

“Like you’re asexual?” Glinda asked with a small nod, affirming what she’d thought in her head for years, since college when they were dating and Fiyero never really seemed all that into the romantic part of the relationship, just like Elphaba was never into the sexual parts, Glinda didn’t really care about not having the sexual part. It wasn’t necessary, but she didn’t feel complete without the romance.

“Yes, Glin. I don’t want what he wants. I don’t experience what he experiences, it wouldn’t be fair to him for us to be together. We don’t have the same types of feelings,” Elphaba said hoping Glinda really understood and that’s why she nodded before.

“But you do like him,” Glinda said pointedly.

“Not the way he wants me to,” Elphaba said with a small sigh. It was true, she did like him. She slightly wished maybe he did want some romance, then they could have that. But she didn’t singularly like him. She liked him and she liked Glinda. In the same way, at the same time. Sometimes it confused her. “That’s why I said no. I told him the truth then. I never lied to him, I just don’t want that kind of relationship and he understands that, he respects that. Just like you.”

“I was there, I remember that. You told him you love him, but you said that you also love me.” Glinda was more awake now, the smell of the baking carrot cake helping to wake her along with the conversation. “Why then did you also say no when I asked you to date me?”

“I don’t think it would be fair to you,” Elphaba said in a small voice. “It’s better this way.”

“No,” Glinda said seriously. “I don’t think it is. There’s nothing about a relationship between you and me that would be unfair to me. I’ve told you this before but I don’t think you listened.”

“You and I need different things,” Elphaba said quietly, not really wanting to argue with Glinda about this or anything really.

“If that were really true Elphie, I would have gone out and found those different things by now,” Glinda said turning and putting her arms around Elphaba gently. “Trust me Elphaba. I don’t need anything you aren’t already giving me.”

Elphaba didn’t respond, she was trying to think of something she could say in response that would justify her position on the matter.

“Do you need something different than what we have, Elphie?” Glinda asked really concerned about her best friend.

“I don’t know,” Elphaba said honestly. “I love what we have, the cuddling, the hugs, the dates and the fun. Even the not-so-great times when we are arguing, I still love you. I don’t need anything more, but I think that you do even if you think you don’t. The only thing missing from us.”

“A label?” Glinda asked hoping that’s what Elphaba meant because if she meant sex she would about to fight with her over that, again. She didn’t need that, sure she did have urges and desires, but she didn’t need to act on them, she was fine not doing it.

“Yes,” Elphaba said quietly. Labels were somewhat of a bad topic for her, only ever having negative ones end up sticking to her.

Glinda sighed. “While that is true Elphie, I don’t have to have a label. I just want to know if it’s okay to tell people we’re dating. ‘Friend dates’ aren’t a common thing, Elphaba. I don’t need any more of a label than dating.”

“You’d end up calling me your girlfriend,” Elphaba said. She didn’t mean anything harsh by it, but it was something she’d rather avoid.

“No,” Glinda said a little harshly. “I wouldn’t, because you wouldn’t be. I’m not stupid Elphie, I would never misgender you like that. Maybe I’d call you datemate, it’s cuter and it doesn’t have a gender, just like you.”

Elphaba looked down at her to see how serious she was about that and the amount of love and determination in her eyes was nearly overwhelming. She was about to respond when the timer dinged, to say the cake was done. “Cake’s done,” she said quietly. “Could you go check it for me?”

Glinda nodded and stood up. “I meant what I said Elphie.”

Elphaba nodded and watched as Glinda walked across the kitchen to check the cake. She thought about what she and Glinda had just talked about. She still didn’t think it would be fair to Glinda for them to be an official couple. Glinda could lose her job. She didn’t even think about that, she was too busy trying to make sure they were happy. She probably wouldn’t, but her boss did legally have that right. It sickened Elphaba, but it was true.

“Elphie come help me mix up the frosting,” Glinda called sweetly.

Elphaba smiled and stood up, stretching. Then she walked over and helped Glinda make the frosting while the cake was cooling.

“Glinda, I want you to know something,” Elphaba said quietly. “There really is a reason that I don’t want to be your girlfriend other than not being a girl.”

Glinda frowned and looked down for a moment, not really sure what Elphaba was going to say next, or expected her to say.

“I don’t want you to lose your job because of me,” Elphaba said after a pause. “I’ve met your boss outside of your work. He’s a terrible bigot. If he knew you were dating me, he could legally fire you. There’s no law here stopping that. I don’t want that to happen.”

Glinda gasped and shook her head. “Elphaba, listen to me closely. I would never ever tell anyone at my work I’m dating you. They’re horribly unaccepting most of them. I’ve heard ninety five percent of them talk shit about people like us so often that if people I know who are like us ask about the store or the things we sell I direct them to more accepting places. I’d quit, but I haven’t heard back from the other places I applied to.”

“Wait, really?” Elphaba was confused.

“If the boss man knew what I’m like aside from the information the application asked for, which didn’t include orientation or religion or relationship status, then he would have never hired me. I’m too unlike who he wants in the store,” Glinda said. “I’ve been working there for a while, but I’ve been trying to find a different job since about two months after I started working there. It shouldn’t be long now before I find some place that’ll hire me. I’ve got nearly six years of experience from working there, plus my other qualifications, and experience from summer and part-time jobs throughout high school and college.”

“That explains why Fiyero left the thing on the coffee table when he was here earlier,” Elphaba said more to herself than Glinda.

“What thing,” Glinda asked, when Elphaba didn’t respond she said again, “What thing, Elphie?”

“Hang on, I’ll go find it, frost the cake while I do, please? You’re better at that part than I am.”

Glinda nodded. “Go find the thing.”

Elphaba chuckled a little and headed out to the living room to find the thing. The thing, it turned out, was a pamphlet from one of the local support groups listing all the businesses nearby that were both LGBT friendly and hiring. That would surely be of use to Glinda. Especially since she needed both those things to have a nice time at work. When she walked back into the kitchen with the pamphlet the cake was nowhere to be seen.

“I put it in the fridge to cool off some,” Glinda said standing by the back door.

"I found the thing," Elphaba said happily.

"Show me outside," Glinda said.

"Outside?" Elphaba asked.

"Yes," Glinda said quietly. "I wanna watch the stars. Please?"

Elphaba smiled. "Stargazing sounds wonderful, Glin. We should take a blanket to lay on though."

Elphaba walked into the bedroom and grabbed a blanket from out of the closet. Then she thought for a second and grabbed her pillow off the bed. She wasn’t about to lay on the grass without a pillow. Especially if there was the possibility that she might fall asleep, which there was.

“Alright,” she said walking out with the pillow, blanket and pamphlet.

Glinda smiled. “Planning on taking a nap out there?”

Elphaba just chuckled. “Possibly.”

She walked over and took one of Glinda’s hands in her own, happy that Glinda was happy. It never really took much to make Elphaba happy, but then, it also didn’t take much to make her sad, she was just better at hiding that.

“Oooh, over here, Elphie,” Glinda said excitedly, pulling her over to the softest part of the grass. “We have a nice view of the sky from here.”

Elphaba smiled contentedly and handed Glinda the pamphlet and pillow while she spread the blanket on the grass then sat on it, inviting Glinda to do the same.

Glinda smiled and placed the pillow down where she knew Elphaba’s head would end up when they laid down and stretched out. Then she sat down beside Elphaba and leaned her head on her shoulder for a moment. “I’m curious,” Glinda said then remembering the pamphlet in her hands, handed that back to Elphaba for a moment. “We have to thank Fiyero for that. Anyway, I’m curious Elphie. You’re not a girl. Why do you let people call you she?”

Elphaba put an arm around Glinda’s shoulder. “The actual answer for that, Glin, isn’t an easy one,” Elphaba said. She was feeling a little more open right now, normally she dismissed this question with just, ‘it’s easier for people to think about.’ “When I was little, people didn’t think I was really a girl. I didn’t act like one. I’m told I nearly bit the finger off a nurse when I was born. Everyone thought that I must have done that because subconsciously, I knew I was male, but also knew I lacked the necessary biology to be male.”

“In short, they thought you wanted a penis?”

“Please don’t say it like that,” Elphaba said, her face a little paler green at that statement. “But yes. That’s what they thought. I was told growing up that I needed to either start acting like a girl, and embrace that—to embrace the biology I was given basically—or admit that I was a freak—a girl-boy. If I did that, father would have never accepted me again. He merely tolerated my presence as it was. I really didn’t want to lose that tolerance, especially after mum died when Shell was born. I always related better to Shell than my sister, but I never completely related or understood what it was like being either. People called me a girl, because that’s what father and the doctors told them I was.” Elphaba paused for a second to organize her thoughts. Glinda looked at her with a proud fear in her eyes, ready to comfort her if that was needed, but not daring to interrupt anymore.

“For a while after Shell was born we lived in a little town, there the teachers in the school—who’d never met me before—started calling me a boy, and treating me like a boy, and I didn’t much like that either. It was a little better than being treated like a girl, because I was allowed to read whatever I wanted, sit how I wanted and act how I wanted because it didn’t matter if I was lady-like, but that didn’t feel right. The he/him pronouns mostly. It felt like I was betraying father, lying to people somehow. So the next year when we moved, I started wearing dresses to school again, and more ‘girlish’ colors and clothes, so that I wouldn’t feel like I was betraying father anymore. It was uncomfortable, but people calling me she didn’t make me feel like I was lying.

“The entire time I was growing up, I thought I was a freak, not just because of my skin, but because I didn’t know it was okay to be neither a girl nor boy,” She didn’t look at Glinda, she wasn’t sure she could without crying, probably the only time she’d admit to herself that she wanted to cry. “I was scared. People already thought I was a freak, I knew that, but I was scared that if I tried to explain that I didn’t feel like I was either a girl or a boy, they’d start vocalizing the thought that I was some kind of inhuman monster. So I just kept letting them call me whatever they wanted for a while, but eventually the longer I thought about it the less I liked people calling me a they or an it. That made me feel, somehow unhuman, I could handle thinking that people thought I wasn’t quite human, but I couldn’t handle feeling that myself. So I started insisting to people, ‘I’m not an it, I’m a she. I’m not a he, I’m a she.’ Until everyone called me she. By the time I figured out that it was okay to not be a he or a she, people had consistently been calling me she to my face for eleven years of my life. I couldn’t bring myself to make them change. To this day, I still can’t bring myself to make them change. I’ve identified as nonbinary, for thirteen years. But I still can’t bring myself to make or let anyone call me anything other than she or my name. Except you and Fiyero.”

Glinda hugged Elphaba tightly. She didn’t say anything though, afraid that if she did Elphaba would stop talking altogether and probably shut down, like she used to do all the time when something was too emotionally challenging for her. Like talking about her past. Though together they’d worked through a lot of those tendencies, she still turned to that defense mechanism about certain things in her past. Half those things Glinda couldn’t be sure of the true nature of, because to this day Elphaba shut down whenever the subject was broached.

“I like it when you two call me something other than just Elphaba. I like it when you call me Elphie, thought I do admit, I still think it’s a little perky for me. And I do enjoy when Fiyero calls me Fae. But anyone else and it bothers me. It feels like lying. That’s why I insist people call me she. I feel like I’m lying to people if I let them call me anything else, even though I’m very clearly not a girl in how I present myself.”

Glinda nodded and leaned up to kiss Elphaba’s cheek. “I’ve always thought you look rather handsome in a suit,” she said. Then she glanced at the sky. “Ooh Elphie, look,” she said excitedly pointing at the constellation Leo. “A shooting star.”

Elphaba smiled first at the light kiss on her cheek, then at Glinda just being Glinda. “I think,” she said turning to look where Glinda pointed, “that’s quite a few shooting stars. It must be the Leonid meteor shower.” Then she gazed at Glinda, her brain making only one silent wish, ‘I wish we could be together forever.’

“It’s beautiful,” Glinda said dreamily.

“You sure are,” Elphaba said without a second’s hesitation. Then blushed a little and smiled. “I mean it is.”

Glinda smiled and turned wrapping her arms around Elphaba’s neck and giving her a light kiss on the lips before pulling away. “I know exactly what you mean. You’re more beautiful than the stars. You think I am too.”

Elphaba smiled and nodded, glad of Glinda’s confidence. “Let’s lay back and look at some of the other stars,” she said.

Glinda nodded and they laid down, soon finding a very comfortable position to look at the stars. Glinda was nestled in the crook of Elphaba’s arm with her head resting comfortably on her chest. She pointed out different stars and constellations while Elphaba for a while related them back to a sparkle in her eye or a sequin on one of her dresses, or the more frequent telling a bit about how it got the name. It was a very calming, very peaceful activity. Glinda had named and pointed out around six more stars and constellations before she realized Elphaba wasn’t responding to them anymore.

She glanced up to confirm her thought and sure enough, Elphaba was fast asleep. Glinda busied herself for a while longer, by watching the meteor shower and reading about the different places in the pamphlet that were looking for employees. She fell asleep too, after a while, with the pamphlet in her hand, her head nestled in the crook of Elphaba’s neck.


	2. Chapter 2

At around 8am both were awoken on their yard, not by the mailman—who didn't seem at all fazed when he walked by—, not by their neighbor Georg walking his dog—a lovely German Shepard named Natalia—, not even by the school bus that had noisily gone down the street about forty-five minutes earlier. No they were awoken by something much worse.

"Wake up losers, it's a fire drill!" shouted at them followed by a rather loud rather annoying recording of what the fire alarm in their old dorm building had sounded like.

Glinda woke confused, panicking that her things would get burned, and very confused about where their roof and bed had gone. Elphaba on the other hand, woke angry.

"Fiyero, shut that damn alarm off before I snap your phone in half."

Fiyero's face blanched or at least paled as much as his dark brown skin could. "You wouldn't dare. This phone cost me six hundred dollars."

"Try me," Elphaba said, getting up rather gracefully for someone who was usually very sluggish and grumpy in the morning.

"Alright," Fiyero said quickly shutting off the alarm and stuffing his phone in his pocket. "Why're you sleeping outside, did you lose your keys?"

"Meteor shower," Elphaba said. That helped Glinda to regain her senses.

"It was beautiful," Glinda said. "You should have seen it Fifi."

"I can get a sense of at least part of that beauty right here, with the sight in front of me, and yes I mean both of you, you're beautiful together." He smiled then looked toward the house Glinda and Elphaba shared. "We should head inside. Perhaps I can make you some breakfast?"

"We made cake," Glinda said.

"Oh is that what you're calling it?" Fiyero asked with a wink.

"Carrot cake, you moron," Elphaba said lightly hitting him on the back of the head.

"When?" he asked rubbing the back of his head and smiling.

"Oh right around three in the morning," Elphaba said.

Fiyero stared at them and shook his head. "Now why on Earth would you two make cake at three in the morning?"

"I couldn't sleep," Elphaba said turning around and picking the blanket and pillow up off the grass.

"You couldn't sleep so you made cake?" Fiyero sighed. "I don't think I'll ever understand you. You don't do sex, you don't drink, you don't do go to parties. But you make cake at three in the morning."

Elphaba sighed then shook her head. "And which one of us was it that danced around campus wearing nothing but a lampshade on his head?"

"You're a dirty liar," Fiyero snapped proudly. "I was also wearing socks, and that shouldn't count, it was a dare, and the first time I'd ever gotten drunk."

"You're awful good at ballet when you're drunk," Elphaba said flatly, though the humor was not at all lost.

"So you were watching," he said proudly. "Did you like what you saw?"

"No, your pirouette was terrible, and you nearly kicked a cat."

Glinda was listening to this exchange and trying hard not to laugh.

"I'll concede, I'm never going to come out on top in this conversation." Fiyero turned his attention to Glinda who was hiding her face in the job pamphlet hoping that he wouldn't notice how red her face was from trying not to laugh. "So, Glinda, I see you have the jobs pamphlet I brought over for you yesterday. See anything in there you're interested in applying for? I don't recommend applying for the same bank I work at, they can only handle so many beautiful, charming, wonderful bisexual people at a time. That and I'm not sure the position is still available."

Glinda smiled and nodded. "Reasonable," she said. "I'm kind of interested in this one thing." She turned the pamphlet around and pointed at a snippet that said 'Peco's Pets: A cozy little pet store looking for a person to help out with stocking shelves, taking care of animals and assisting customers. Needs to have experience working retail, and handling animals. Must not be afraid of dogs, cats, rabbits, birds, or rodents. Reptiles and amphibians and arachnids are in store, but in different section and can be avoided by employee if need be. Must know about fish. Must be able to work full time. Must also be able to speak more than one language.'

Fiyero smiled. "That sounds like a wonderful job. How many languages do you speak anyway?"

"A few, English, French, Spanish, German, Italian," Glinda began naming them off in the order she learned them.

Elphaba turned around. "You speak German?" she asked a little incredulously.

"Yes?" Glinda said. "I speak a few languages. Quite a few. German is one of them. Why?"

"I've been trying to talk to Georg for years now, and I can't understand him and you're telling me, you've known his language the entire time and didn't help me?"

Glinda smiled shyly. "Oops?" Glinda said with a shrug of her shoulders. "You seemed to be doing just fine to me. If you want me to be honest, you're doing better at understanding him than he is of you."

"Really?" Elphaba asked. That didn't sound possible considering she never had any idea what he was saying.

"Yes, really," Glinda said with a firm nod. "He's no good with English. He doesn't even know how to ask what time is it."

"But I don't know how to say anything in German, I literally don't understand anything he says to me," Elphaba said.

"You understand his hands," Glinda said. "Now let's go inside, I don't wanna stand on the porch all day."

Elphaba nodded still confused and opened the door so they could all go inside. Once they were inside Elphaba shut the door behind them and Fiyero immediately headed to the kitchen, while Glinda headed to the telephone.

"I'm going to call this guy," she said. "And ask him if the job is still available."

Elphaba smiled. "You do that."

Glinda smiled too and dialed the number once she was at the phone. Elphaba headed into the bedroom and put the blanket in the laundry basket and the pillow back on the bed. Then she headed into the kitchen and saw Fiyero standing at the stove with a pan and some pancake batter.

"Want some pancakes?" he asked as she walked in.

"Yeah, sure," Elphaba said. "Why did you come over anyway?"

"To make you pancakes, obviously," Fiyero responded.

"Be serious," she said but she was smiling.

"I wanted to talk to you two about something." He glanced at her to see if she believed him.

"What something?" she asked. It concerned her when her friends weren't direct about what they wanted to talk about.

"Something I heard. I'm not saying more until Glinda is here too."

Elphaba stared at him for a while while he made pancakes. After realizing that he was completely serious about not saying anything else until Glinda got in the room she decided to clean up some, since most of the things from making cake last night were still on the table. She made sure that the flour, sugar and spice containers were all closed then put them back in their cabinet. Glinda had made sure that the refrigerated things were put back into the refrigerator when she put the cake in there so Elphaba didn't need to worry about those. She put the bowls, cake pans and baking sheet in the sink to be washed by someone who wasn't allergic to water, normally she would do it herself but when she looked, her rubber gloves were gone. That didn't really help her much, she'd probably have to buy new ones later.

When the pancakes were all made, and the table completely cleaned off, Elphaba and Fiyero sat down to eat. The silence between them while they were munching on the pancakes was a little awkward at first and Elphaba wasn't entirely sure why. It hadn't been this awkward between the two of them since college. Since that one particular day in college.

After fifteen minutes on the phone, Glinda came into the kitchen with a huge grin on her face. "I got the job," she bubbled in her usual happy manor.

Elphaba nearly choked on her pancake trying to tell her, "congratulations." She quickly regained her composure after swallowing her bite and drinking a bit of milk. "Congratulations," she said more clearly, without choking this time. "What job?"

"Pet store employee. When I called about it he asked me a few questions, 'how serious are you about actually working at the store and not just being around the animals', 'how many languages can you speak', 'would you make sure people don't walk out of the store with hamsters or birds in their pockets or kittens in their bags, it's happened before', 'would you be willing to clean up animal waste', 'when could you start', 'would you ever bring the person you're dating, should you be dating someone, into the store just to have them around without making them help out', apparently about that last one, it's okay with him if I have someone come into the store just because I want them to be around, but only if I give them things to do that help out." Glinda was smiling a huge smile.

Both Elphaba and Fiyero got up from the table and hugged her. Elphaba wasn't usually one to initiate hugs, but she was ecstatic that Glinda would be able to get away from the hell-hole where she currently worked. Glinda smiled more and hugged them both back. This was exciting news.

After a minute they all headed to the table so Glinda could have some breakfast too and then a few minutes later Fiyero spoke.

"I came here today actually to talk to you two about something I heard. A rumor," he said.

"Yero we aren't kids anymore why do we need to talk about rumors?" Elphaba asked, personally she hated rumors, especially false ones.

"Because Fae, this one's about you."

Glinda dropped her fork and Elphaba just looked stunned, there hadn't been any new rumors about her in years. "Oh."

Fiyero sighed, he wasn't exactly sure how to tell them about what he heard. He wasn't sure it was true. "I don't want to freak either of you out. I just need to know if this rumor is true or not, Fae."

Elphaba nodded, she understood needing to know, but was confused to why he didn't just outright repeat the rumor to them.

"Well, from what I heard of the rumor. In high school," he began and Elphaba groaned a little high school was a bad time, "Avaric wasn't very understanding about well really anything different than his normal." Was it just his eyes or did Elphaba seem a little paler green now? "Normally I'd just ignore rumors that begin like that because honestly who really was completely accepting in high school. But they said that he went so far in his unacceptingness to tell you, multiple times that asexual wasn't a real thing. Fae, I know this if true is probably a hard thing for you to talk about but I need to know. They said he forced you to have sex with him, more than once, in an attempt to make you realize that you weren't really asexual."

Elphaba couldn't speak, she opened her mouth a little to try, but she just couldn't. She'd never told anyone about that. She couldn't tell anyone about that. It embarrassed her, and more so it hurt.

"Fae, I'm sorry. If they're lying I can tell them to take their stupid hurtful rumor and stick it up their—"

"It's true."


	3. Chapter 3

Fiyero was stunned into silence for a moment and Glinda took Elphaba's hand gently. Neither knew what to say now.

"Elphie," Glinda said, she wasn't sure what she was about to say would help or make any difference at all but she had to try. "You know that no matter what he said, no matter what he did, your sexuality is one hundred percent still valid."

"I know." She was still having trouble with talking, she couldn't really think much beyond remembering him cornering her in the hallways in high school preaching about how she just hadn't found the right man yet and how she'd see someday that he was right and she was wrong even if it took him years to convince her. She still remembered how her father let her and him be alone in her bedroom, because she was already strange enough it was good that she'd found a normal boy to be with.

"Fae, was it just a few times?" Fiyero was really concerned, he needed to know this information. He needed to know how badly to kick Avaric's ass.

"No."

"Was it only in high school?"

"No." She was shaking a little, trembling. But she was glad in a way to that he would know now, and that the questions were simple.

"Did he stop in college?"

"No."

"After college?"

"No."

Fiyero was getting angrier with each no Elphaba said. Avaric was their friend. They trusted him. "When did he stop?"

"He hasn't." Elphaba almost didn't say it, she had choked on her words, but she was scared now, not that Avaric would be mad that she told on him for hurting her, but that Fiyero and Glinda would be mad at her for not telling them the truth.

"Elphaba," Fiyero said.

Elphaba didn't look at him, she didn't look at Glinda either. She just looked at her hands, sure that he was mad at her now. Sure that he was about to tell her that he didn't want to be around her anymore.

"Elphaba, look at me," he said.

She shook her head, almost imperceptibly.

"Elphaba Thropp, look at me," he said, hoping that using her surname would get her to listen.

She turned her head up but still didn't look him in the eyes.

He reached across the table and took hold of the hand that Glinda wasn't holding gently. "Elphaba, when was the last time he did that to you?"

"The St. Patrick's day party we went to," she said. She didn't want to lie, she could though, she could've told him that she couldn't remember clearly.

"That was last week," Glinda said. She was shocked, she hadn't really said much during this, it was hard to process. She knew that bad things had happened to Elphaba in the past, and when she talked about the details of them she didn't want to be hugged or held, but she couldn't believe that something that bad had happened to her so recently, without anyone knowing.

Elphaba just nodded. She was completely sure that they were mad at her now. She didn't look either of them in the eyes, she couldn't see the love and protectiveness they held there.

"I need to know one more thing, Fae," he said. The switch back to his nickname for her, he hoped, would show her that he only wanted to help. "Did he use protection, ever?"

A lot of things that had been said today either by her or about her had made her want to cry, a lot of them. But only one actually made her cry, and it was that one. The tears that fell from her eyes as she shakily responded, "no," burned, the saltiness of them just made the burning worse.

Fiyero was torn now, as he saw it he had two options, go kick Avaric's ass for hurting her or stay with her and try to help her somehow. He decided to stay.

Glinda stood up, there were tears threatening to fall from her eyes, but she held them back. She walked into the living room and picked up the phone and made one call. When the person picked up on the other end and asked her how she knew the number directly to the manager's office, she simply responded. "It's Glinda Upland, I just wanted to tell you. I'm not coming in to work today, because I quit." Then she hung up and went back to the kitchen, grabbing the box of tissues off the coffee table as she went. Back in the kitchen, she placed an arm around Elphaba's shoulder gently and gave her a quick, gentle kiss on her cheek. She placed the box of tissues down on the table and pulled one out and very gently dried Elphaba's cheeks with it.

"Please don't cry," she said quietly. "We're going to help you through this. Whatever you want, whatever you need, we will make sure you have it."

"I need…" Elphaba thought for a second she wasn't entirely sure exactly what she needed, there were a lot of things she wanted, hot cocoa, something she could squish, that cat that lived in their back yard to not scratch her when she tried to pet him. But then she realized it. What she did need. "I need to know you two aren't mad at me."

Glinda pulled Elphaba's chair back from the table so she could kneel down on the floor in front of her and look her in the eyes. "I would never, ever, be mad at you for something like this. You did not ask for him to do this to you. You did not ask for this to happen. You did not ask to be born the way you were. You did nothing wrong. There's no reason for me to be mad at you. So Avaric did a shit thing to you. I'm not mad at you for what he did, for the choice he made. I'm mad at him. I'm furious with him actually. But I'm not mad at you. I never was and I never will be. Please understand that, Elphie."

Fiyero moved around the table and knelt down beside Glinda. "Fae, you need to know a few things about this situation. First and foremost is that neither of us are mad at you. Second is that Avaric will pay for what he did to you, and third is that if you tell me that you haven't gotten tested for STIs I'm carrying you to your doctor's office and making you get tested. I trust you, but after what you said today, I no longer trust Avaric."

Elphaba nodded gratefully but fearfully at the same time. "I have, I go in once every two weeks. But I don't go to my doctor's office, they ask too many questions. I go to the health department on the advice of… someone I trust." They didn't need to know that she'd been talking to someone at Planned Parenthood about—not specifically Avaric, she never mentioned names,—this situation, did they?

"Okay," Fiyero said with a nod. He was a little curious about who this trusted individual was, but he didn't ask. He wasn't sure if she'd tell him or not.

"We're going to leave you alone here in the kitchen for a minute, is that okay?" Glinda said calmly.

Elphaba nodded, not sure why they were going to leave but glad to have the moment to make herself some more cocoa.

Glinda pulled Fiyero up and off to the bedroom, then she shut the door.

"What's the big idea?" Fiyero asked, he hated being pulled around. "She needs us."

"I know what you're thinking and I can't allow you to do it Fiyero. What Avaric did is fucked up, yes. But I can't let you go kick his ass for it," she said seriously.

The look on her face frightened Fiyero a bit. She wasn't normally so fierce about anything and it was terrifying. "But, he raped her. Multiple times."

"I know. And he deserves to be punished for that. But I cannot allow you to kick his ass. If you do that, you're the one that would get in legal trouble. There's no proof of his crime beyond the rumor and what Elphaba told us. We are too close to her, emotionally we would not be considered reliable. I'm sorry Fiyero but I can't let you do it."

Fiyero sighed, he wanted Avaric to pay for what he'd done, but Glinda was right. They'd never be justified in court, they didn't have evidence that he'd actually committed the crime they'd be accusing him of. "So what are we supposed to do? Sit back and pretend like we don't know what he did? Glinda he's in our friend group. He goes to the same parties we do. He works with her."

"Fiyero, did you ever think there's a reason he works with her? I know the reason you and her aren't dating is because you have different goals for a relationship and you both respect that. I know the reason she and I aren't dating is because she's afraid, afraid of how an official relationship between she and I would affect my life. But what's the reason she and Avaric aren't dating?"

"She doesn't love him?" he asked hoping that was the right answer otherwise he still had a lot to learn about Elphaba.

"He never asked."

"She does love him?" Fiyero was confused.

"No. He never asked. She's too afraid of him. If he'd asked, she would have been too afraid to say no. You know her, she's strong, confident, assertive, and stubborn. She's loving, caring, kind, and gentle too. But above all that, she has a weakness in that she never learned to properly express and deal with her emotions. I've been trying to help her learn, and she is learning, but she doesn't do well when she's afraid. Not many people do, but I think fear must have been a bigger part of her childhood than she'll ever tell us, because she reacts to fear, when she expresses it, exactly the same as a child would."

"You're saying that the only reason Elphaba isn't dating Avaric is because he doesn't realize she's too scared to say no to him?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. He's controlling her, and I think in a way she realizes that but won't admit it. Think about things like this, why did Elphaba come to the St. Patrick's Day party when she has so much work to do for her lab assistant job?"

"Avaric invited her. I remember that, I was talking to him and Elphaba was in the room and I mentioned the party and he turned and invited her and she said yes, it should have struck me as odd when it happened because if I'd have asked her she would have said she was busy. She's not a party person."

"Exactly. She does things for him that she would never do for anyone else, not even Nessa, because she's afraid of him. There's got to be something more to this though. I need to know from her how it all started if she can tell us that. I have all day, do you have to work today?"

"No, today's my day off."

Glinda nodded and hugged Fiyero. He hugged her back. "Now," she said. "Let's go back out there and see if she'll tell us some more."

Fiyero nodded and opened the door. They walked out together and then into the kitchen and found Elphaba had made not only herself some cocoa but both of them some cocoa as well.

"Elphie," Glinda said gently. "Is it okay if we ask you some more questions about this whole situation?"

Elphaba sighed but nodded. "Only if you hug me first."

When Glinda walked over and gave Elphaba a big hug, she noticed a plate with carrot cake crumbs sitting on the table in front of Elphaba. She smiled. Elphaba had to be feeling a little better if she was able to eat cake before noon. When Elphaba stopped hugging back, Glinda released her and moved back to her chair.

"Okay, Elphie, I think I'm going to ask the first question," Glinda said as Fiyero moved back to his chair across from her. "What exactly did Avaric say to you in high school?"

"More than just telling me 'asexual isn't real' he told me I was confused, that I just hadn't met the right man yet and he'd make me see that he was right and I was wrong even if it took him years." Elphaba took a deep breath. "When I told him that I didn't care what he said I knew I was right and he wasn't, he got mad and said he'd make me see the truth."

"What happened next?"

"The next day, I thought he'd calmed down because he'd asked me in science if he could come over to my house that afternoon and work on the project we'd been assigned. I said sure, because if he wasn't mad anymore then I could at least act like what he'd said hadn't hurt as bad as it did. When he came over we went to my room to work because Nessa was teaching Shell multiplication in the living room and we didn't want to deal with that. So in my room we worked on the project for a while and then father came by and I thought he was going to make Avaric leave, but instead he said that Avaric's mom had called and asked if it was okay if Avaric spent the night with us, because she and his dad wanted to do something special for their anniversary and he wanted to tell us that Avaric was staying the night and that dinner would be soon." Another deep breath, she was really proud of herself though for being able to tell the story so calmly, proud and slightly worried. She assumed the calm came from being able to tell the story logically instead of through emotional questions. "After dinner I helped Nessa get ready for bed like I always did and read Shell a bed time story, because even though he was in third grade he still liked hearing me tell stories before he fell asleep. Then I got ready for bed and found out, father wasn't making Avaric sleep in Shell's room or on the couch or anything like that. No, father was waiting in my room with Avaric and told me, that he was glad I'd finally found a nice normal boy to be with and he didn't care if we slept in the same room, he trusted him."

Glinda nodded and reached out and gently squeezed Elphaba's hand.

"That night, after father and Nessa and Shell were all asleep, and I after I had thought Avaric was asleep I crawled into the bed, wanting to sleep. I did sleep, for a little while, but I woke up. When I woke up, it wasn't because I was my usual insomniac self. Avaric wasn't as asleep as I thought he was and he was touching me. I told him to stop, that I didn't like him, or anyone, that way and he told me he was going to make me see the truth." Elphaba closed her eyes and took a few deep steadying breaths, then she opened her eyes and looked directly into Glinda's for support.

"It's okay, Elphie," Glinda said, putting as much love into her gaze and her voice as she could. "I'm here."

"He kept touching me even after I started trying to push him away, then he undid the buttons on my pajama shirt and," she kept her gaze steady on Glinda's "do I really have to tell you the details of this, I'm pretty sure you don't want to hear it."

"I just wanted to know how it all got started. You say you fought him?"

"I did. Well I tried anyway, but you know Avaric, I'm strong but he's stronger. When I kept trying to fight him after he got my pants off, he pinned me to the bed, slapped my face and threatened to tell the whole school about my scars."

Glinda gasped and so did Fiyero. They both knew what a sensitive topic Elphaba's scars were, she never wanted anyone to know about them.

"At that point I did what any reasonable fifteen year old would in the situation. I cried. At least I hope that's what reasonable fifteen year olds would do. It made me feel so worthless, so helpless. What's worse is it was painful, not just what he was doing to me, but the crying. I'm not even entirely sure how I kept the track marks from being visible at school the next day. The worst part was for the rest of high school it was an every other week thing. In college it was worse. He's the reason I tried to get you to stay in the dorm and study with me on Saturday nights, Glin. In college it was every Saturday, and every time I went home to visit father or help Shell with a school project because father couldn't he'd come with me, and it'd happen all over again. Father thought we were in a relationship."


	4. Chapter 4

Glinda squeezed Elphaba’s hand again. “If I had known Elphie, I would have stayed. Honestly, I would have. As they say, hindsight’s 20/20.”

Elphaba nodded. “Father still thinks we’re in a relationship. He wants us to get married before he dies. Glin, I don’t wanna marry him. I know he’s not hurting me like that as often now, certainly not every week. More like-“ then Elphaba fell silent, she didn’t think she could tell her.

“It’s okay, Elphie. Remember, we are not mad at you for what Avaric is doing wrong.”

“Every week and a half.”

Glinda nodded. This was a serious problem. Something had to be done. “Fiyero, I need you to do something for me,” Glinda said.

“Anything, name it.”

“Find him, set your phone to record the conversation without him knowing. Talk to him. See if you can get him to confess to what he’s doing.”

Elphaba looked between Glinda and Fiyero and shook her head. “How do you think the rumor got started in the first place?”

They were both silent for a moment before Fiyero spoke. “I’m not really sure, Fae. Do you know?”

“Someone must have overheard us, or rather him talking to me. One day at work, like two or three days ago actually, I tried to tell him that he needed to keep his hands to himself, and he remarked that I’d told him the same thing every time he slept with me in high school.”

“The rumor specifically said that he forced you to sleep with him,” Fiyero said.

“Well whoever head it must know I’m ace and must have known it for a long time, and assumed from the ‘keep your hands to yourself’ thing that it wasn’t consensual,” Elphaba said. “That’s what makes sense. That’s what I think happened to start the rumor.”

“So we need to find that person, and they’re a neutral third-party witness.”

“Guys, you should probably know I don’t want to press charges against him for this.”

Fiyero and Glinda looked at each other, then Elphaba.

“New plan,” Glinda said. “Restraining order.”

“No matter what you tell us, no matter what you say about this Elphaba, we aren’t letting him hurt you anymore. Here’s the deal, from what I know of the justice system from research, from Boq, from people in the support groups that have gone through it, you’re probably better off not pressing charges on him. But a restraining order probably is your second best bet. With that you can legally have a cop make him leave if he’s harassing you. I mean, if someone else sees it you could have him removed anyway because witness but with a restraining order he’d be breaking the law more obviously, even without a witness.”

Elphaba nodded, but she wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure about anything anymore. She wasn’t sure if telling them was the right thing to do. She wasn’t sure if she liked having them worry over her like they were or she hated it, she just wasn’t sure. She wasn’t even sure if she’d finished her cocoa, until she picked up the cup and it was empty. She could feel new tears rolling down her cheeks and she wasn’t sure why. She wasn’t sure, maybe it was just too much. Before she never had to deal with the thoughts, the feelings, the pain of what Avaric did, and continued to do, except when it was happening. Now it was out in the open and she had to deal with it, deal with it or be told that bottling up her emotions wasn’t healthy. She wasn’t sure if she believed that anymore.

“Elphie,” Glinda said quietly and moved her chair over so she was sitting directly beside her instead of adjacent to her. “Elphie, please don’t cry. We aren’t going to make you do anything you don’t want to do, right Fiyero?”

“Right,” Fiyero said seriously. “Please, don’t cry Fae. You don’t have to get a restraining order if you don’t want one.”

“It’s not that,” Elphaba said quietly.

“Then what is it, Fae?”

“I’m not sure,” she said, still quiet. “I’m out of cocoa.”

Fiyero didn’t say anything, but got up and started making her a new cup of cocoa. He didn’t want her to cry anymore. It wasn’t a pretty sight, and it wasn’t good for her the way it was for other people. When he was done he sat back down with the cocoa and handed it to her. “I made you new cocoa.”

Elphaba smiled a little and took it gratefully. “Glin, when do you have to go to work?”

“Tomorrow, I start my new job tomorrow. I quit my old one about an hour ago.”

Elphaba nodded, that sounded reasonable. Reasonable she could understand there were lots of reasonable things in the world and in her life. Glinda for the most part was reasonable. Fiyero to about the same extent was reasonable. Her cocoa was reasonably warm. Her heart suddenly feeling empty was unreasonable. Being stuck in a sexual relationship she didn’t want, with a man she didn’t like, for a reason she couldn’t control was unreasonable. “Glin, do you think he’d leave me alone if I were openly in a relationship with someone?”

“Maybe if he thought that that meant he’d done his ‘job’ of as he said making you see the truth. Why?”

“Glinda could we tell him we’re dating? Do you think that would help the situation?”

Glinda thought about it, but she wasn’t so sure. If Avaric wasn’t accepting of her not being sexually attracted to anyone he might not be accepting of her being attracted to a girl, and it might not make the situation any better, in fact that could make everything worse. “I don’t know, honestly Elphie. As much as I want to be able to tell people you’re my datemate, I’m scared for you right now. Telling him you’re dating a girl could make it worse in the long run, because who knows how he feels about same-sex couples. I used that term on purpose, Elphie, don’t give me that look, you and I both know that our relationship would be considered same-sex by people even though you’re not the same gender as me.”

“Avaric isn’t a fan of same-sex couples,” Fiyero said. “I’ve heard the snide remarks he’s made about them. Honestly, Avaric’s an ass, I’m not sure why we’re friends with him.”

“He was friends with Boq in middle school, Boq introduced him to us, back when he had a crush on Glinda, because he thought somehow that adding another boy to the mix would better his chances with her,” Elphaba said. “I remember things like that, especially about him.”

“Elphaba this is just a thought, but Avaric might back down, if he thought you and I were dating,” Fiyero said. “I know how you feel about that, and I’m not saying I should actually be your boyfriend, I’m over that, I love that you love me, but I respect that you do not want me in that way. Still—“

“He has a point, Elphie,” Glinda said. “If Avaric would respond negatively to you dating someone of your perceived gender, he probably wouldn’t get mad if you were dating someone of your perceived opposite gender.”

“Glin, I’m not entirely sure you know exactly what you’re saying.”

“I know exactly what I’m saying, Avaric perceives you as a girl. As weak. As less than him. He’s a controlling, conniving jerk. Elphie, you need to do whatever it takes to get away from him. People teach and preach all the time about recognizing signs of abuse in a relationship, but neglect that abusive friendships are thing too. I’m scared for you. I want you to be safe in every way possible. You can’t see it from where you are Elphie, but we can from where we are. He’s using you. He’s manipulating you. Do you know why your dad thinks you two are dating? It’s because Avaric probably told him you are.”

Elphaba sat there in stunned silence over this. Deep down she knew Glinda was right, but to be told that she was being used, to be told she was being abused and that she didn’t even realize it, that was a hard thing to swallow. A very hard thing to swallow. She wasn’t sure she could, and yet. “Okay so, he’s using me. I think I already knew that, Glin. But what you’re saying with the rest of your sentences is that he’s abusing me as well but I just can’t see it. He’s using me for sex, but how is he abusing me?”

“Emotionally Elphaba,” Fiyero said. “He knows you’re afraid of him, he uses that to his advantage. When was the last time you successfully told him ‘no’ about something, anything, he wanted to do with, or to, you? When was the last time you were able to talk back to him without him threatening you in some way? How long has it been since you’ve gone to a single party that he wasn’t constantly with you?”

“I…” Elphaba looked down. Fiyero was right. “too long.” That had to be the correct answer. It was the true answer.

“What happened last time you told him ‘no’?”

“He slapped me.”

“What happened last time you fought back against him?”

“I am not answering that.”

“Does he know where you are right now?”

Elphaba sighed, when said like all this she realized they were completely right. She was stuck in an abusive relationship with a guy she wasn’t even dating. “Probably.”

“Does he get mad that you spend more time with Glinda and me than with him?”

“I don’t know.” Elphaba looked up. “Can we please just drop this unless the next words out of your mouth are the miracle solution to my problem? I don’t want to cry anymore. I can’t cry anymore. People will question me. Please, I just I’m sorry.”

Glinda wrapped her arms around Elphaba gently. “You don’t need to apologize, Elphie. Like I told you before. Whatever you need, whatever you want, we will make sure you have it. The same goes for your don’t wants. You don’t want to cry anymore. We’ll do our best to keep you from crying. You don’t want to marry him, somehow we’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Elphaba nodded, not even bothering to tell Glinda not to hug her. Somehow it felt right to let her do that. “Yero, you’re right, if you and Glin think that the best way to try to get him to back off is to tell him you and I are a couple, I’ll do that.”

Fiyero nodded. “Just remember, we are only pretending to be together. I’m still just your friend.”

“Best friend.” Elphaba smiled at the scandalized look on Glinda’s face at that. “Don’t worry Glin, you’re my super best friend.”

Glinda smiled and kissed Elphaba’s cheek gently. “Do you want me to go get your aloe before you head off to work?”

“Work?” Elphaba was confused, it shouldn’t be near time for her to go to work.

“Yes, work. It’s Wednesday, you go to work on Wednesdays at eleven. It’s nine forty-five, you’ve got burns on your cheeks and are still in your pajamas, or should I call and tell them you’re not going in today?”

Elphaba shook her head. “No, no. I’ll go. Just get my aloe and let me get some real clothes on.”

“And I,” Fiyero said. “Will wash the dishes.”

Elphaba smiled. “You’re so sweet.”

They all went off to do their things and soon Elphaba was dressed and Glinda was carefully putting the aloe on the tear tracks on her cheek. “Are you going to be okay at work?”

“I should be fine, Glin,” Elphaba said. “They might question the marks, but everyone I work with knows about my allergy, so it won’t be all that bad.”

“I meant—never mind. If you need us, we’re a text or call away. Whatever you want,” Glinda said giving her a light peck on the cheek.

“I know what you meant, who you meant,” Elphaba said. “I’d just rather not think about him right now.”

Glinda nodded. “Please be safe.”

Elphaba smiled. “Don’t worry so much, Glin. I’ll be fine. You know me, I’m a fighter.”

“Don’t be late,” Glinda said smiling and pulling Elphaba out of the chair to give her one last hug before she left.

Elphaba hugged her back briefly, then turned to Fiyero. She walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. “You know the drill.”

“If you’re not at the café, by seven thirty to come check on you.” Fiyero looked at her and smiled. “I’m pretty sure, Avaric isn’t going to do anything bad. But I’m ready to help you if he does.”

Elphaba nodded, gently squeezed his shoulder to let him know she appreciated it then headed out to the door to go to work.


	5. Chapter 5

**There's a little thing that happens in this chapter to Elphaba, I wrote it as respectably as I could. If it makes you uncomfortable, I'm sincerely sorry I'll mark the paragraph with this (*) and you can skip over it.**

It was a nice day, the sun was shining the birds were singing and she wasn't going to be late for work. There were lots of possible ways she could get to her job downtown at the pharmacy. She followed her usual path, enjoying the trees and sun and occasional small animal that crossed in front of her. When she got into downtown she was occasionally joined for a short while by a homeless person. She wasn't heartless so after talking with each one that walked beside her for a minute or two she handed them five dollars and a card with information about some of the lesser known soup kitchens/free meal programs and homeless shelters in the city, and told them she wished she could help them more. Generally speaking her gift to them got her a smile and the phrase, 'Thank you. I'd hug you but I'm not sure if you're okay with that.'

When she finally got to the pharmacy and headed inside, it was ten till the time she normally clocked in, eleven thirty. She walked to the back and signed in and went into the very back room to change into her uniform. She kept her uniform here, with permission of the manager and the owner, because when she first started working she'd rescued a scruffy little brown dog named Killjoy and she didn't want to get dog fur on her uniform in case anyone might be allergic to it. And that just never changed even long after Killjoy was gone.

When she heard the door open then close she cursed herself for forgetting to lock it, then started to tell the person to leave when she head the lock click. "What the fuck?"

"You and I are getting married after work." It was Avaric's voice. He sounded super serious.

"Avaric that isn't funny. Get the fuck out of here."

Avaric walked over to her and placed his hands on her sides, she hadn't gotten her shirt on yet all she was wearing was her binder. "I wasn't joking. Your father is meeting us at the church at 7:45. We are getting married."

"No."

Avaric forcefully turned Elphaba around and slapped her face, bringing fresh tears to her eyes. "You do not tell me no. This is happening whether you like it or not. Your father wants to see us married before he dies, and according to his doctor he only has two weeks left. You don't want to disappoint him do you?"

Elphaba cast her gaze to the floor and shook her head. "But what about Fiyero? He won't be too happy to find out his girlfriend is getting married to someone that isn't him."

"Fuck him. I don't care what he thinks. This isn't about him. It's about you and me. I own you. You are mine," Avaric said harshly as he grabbed her arm.

"Avaric please, you're hurting me."

"You'd think a smart girl like you would have figured it out by now. I don't care. I never cared. You're fun to play with. That's all."

"Then leave me the hell alone."

 ***** "No. Like I said. You're fun to play with and we're getting married." He roughly forced a kiss on Elphaba's lips then for thirty minutes made sure that she knew there was no winning for her in this situation. After that he walked out of the room with a triumphant look on his face and left her in nothing but her binder and her pants. She was crying and slumped to the floor. *****

A few minutes later her manager knocked on the door. "Elphaba are you alright? May I come in? I just want to check on you."

Elphaba was slumped on the floor in shock, not having put her shirt on.

"Elphaba, I'm coming in to check on you," her manager said. The door opened and her manager, a woman not much older than herself, walked in. She gasped when she saw Elphaba.

Elphaba looked up at the older woman, but didn't say anything.

"What happened? What did he do?" her manager asked. "Elphaba, talk to me."

"I'm scared," Elphaba said. Normally she didn't tell her manager anything about herself. "Can I ask a friend to come and spend the work day with me?"

"Of course, Elphaba. Do you want me to call them for you?"

"I can text them. It's what they expect," Elphaba said, she reached in her pocket to get her phone.

"Elphaba I need to know what he did."

Elphaba gulped and shakily said, "my friend can tell you. I can't."

The manager was confused for a second but then realized what must have happened. "Elphaba, did you know there's security camera in this room?"

"You told me that when you said I could use this room to change into my uniform. You warned me about it so that I would know the security staff can see me, and to stay out of the sight of it when I'm changing."

"Do you know what that means today?"

"That someone saw what he did?"

"That means it's on camera. Video evidence of whatever wrongdoing he did. Elphaba, as you text your friends, the blonde and the vinkun right, I have to make sure you understand that if what he did was against the law I'm legally obligated to press charges against him on your behalf."

Elphaba froze. "I'm scared of that."

Her manager nodded. "I understand, but I have to. It's the law."

Elphaba hurried to finish her text telling Fiyero to bring himself and Glinda to the pharmacy, and come to the very back room. Elphaba then put her phone down and looked directly at her manager. "I'm scared of that, Madeline. I'm scared they won't believe me if I tell them the truth."

"What truth Elphaba? It's on camera. He can't fight that."

"That this isn't the first time he's done this to me."

"Oh." Madeline looked at her in shock for a moment. "Has it happened here at work before?"

"No. Never at work before. I'm surprised he was that bold this time honestly. He usually is more discreet, more…I don't know there has to be a word for it honestly. There has to be. He's never done this in such a public place before. Madeline I'm scared."

There was a light knocking on the door followed by Glinda's voice. "Elphie are you in there? It's just me and Fiyero. Can we come in? I kept him from confronting Avaric."

"It's okay, you can come in," Elphaba called back gently.

Glinda opened the door to the small back room and walked in with Fiyero. Then shut the door behind them, she didn't want Avaric to be able to overhear the conversation.

"Fae," Fiyero said quietly. "Are you aware you're not wearing your shirt?"

Elphaba looked down at herself a little guiltily and embarrassed, then she took her uniform shirt, which she'd dropped to the floor beside her, into her hand and put it on. "Better?" she asked.

"Yes, not that your binder isn't pretty, but Fae look…what exactly happened?"

Elphaba paled a little and looked down.

Fiyero walked over and sat down on his knees beside her, Glinda did the same on the other side and Madeline was sitting in front of her.

"Elphaba," Fiyero said. "Did he hurt you?"

She nodded.

"What did he say this time?"

"That we're getting married after work and there's nothing I can do about it. That he owns me, that I'm his. That he doesn't actually care about me at all, he thinks I'm just fun to play with. That father's doctor said he only has two weeks left to live. That he didn't care that you and I were 'dating'." Elphaba was trembling. "Yero, I don't want to marry him."

Fiyero and Glinda exchanged a look. Then Fiyero replied, "You're not going to Fae. We aren't going to let that asshole get that from you. We may not have been able to stop him from taking other things from you, but we aren't letting him take your freedom and your life."

"I'm a little out of the loop here," Madeline said. "Care to fill me in. Do you know what he did?"

Fiyero nodded. "She doesn't have the strength to say it herself. He raped her. Today wasn't the first time, but it's going to be the last. Please tell me there's something you can do about it."

"I'm going to get the security staff to call the police. I know Elphaba doesn't want that, but it's what I'm legally obligated to do. I only want what's best for my employees and letting a rapist get away with doing that to one of my employees in my pharmacy isn't going what's best." Madeline stood up. "Elphaba, I'd like it if you and your friends would go sit in my office, it's much more comfortable in there. The chairs are padded."

Elphaba nodded. "Yes, ma'am," she said realizing that 'I'd like it' was less a friendly suggestion and more a as your boss I'm telling you to do this thing, in the nicest way I can.

Madeline left the room and soon after Elphaba, Glinda and Fiyero followed. Avaric wasn't in sight, having been working the cash register at the front of the store. They quickly walked over to Madeline's office, which wasn't too far from that small back room.

Glinda and Fiyero walked Elphaba over to one of the chairs and tried to get her to sit down but she shrugged them off. "No let me pace, please."

Glinda sighed and Fiyero nodded as they moved back to give her some room so she could pace and twitch and talk her way through her feelings like she usually did with problems.

"I don't understand," were the first words out of Elphaba's mouth as she started pacing. "I don't understand why he still wants to marry me even though he doesn't care about me at all."

Fiyero shrugged, "Maybe it's because he's a controlling asshole?"

"Money," Glinda said.

Elphaba looked at her and stopped pacing for a second. Then muttered "money" and resumed her pacing. "That makes sense, if he marries me, my father can name him a legal heir of the estate without anyone questioning it. But it doesn't make sense, his family has money. His father paid his tuition in college. But maybe he wants more money."

"Maybe it isn't the money, you're right about the heir thing, Fae. But don't forget that your family's estate practically runs Munckinland."

"It doesn't practically run it. It does run it," Elphaba said. "That's it! He wants the power that he thinks would come with being my husband. He doesn't realize that I gave up the claims to that power. He doesn't realize that if he really wanted power he'd have to marry Nessa."

"Or he does realize it, and he's just an asshole."

Elphaba looked at Fiyero.

"I'm only telling the truth Fae, it's possible that he really is just an abusive and controlling asshole who doesn't know when to quit."

Elphaba sighed and stopped pacing, then sat down in one of the chairs. When Glinda shot her a concerned glance, she just sighed and said, "It hurts to pace like that."

Glinda walked over and took one of Elphaba's hands gently. "Elphie, in the end it doesn't matter why he's doing what he's doing it only matters that he's been caught and is going to be punished for it. What matters most is that you're alive, you're here, and you're not marrying him."

Elphaba nodded. "I know. But Glin, I need to know why. I need to know why me. Of all the people he could have picked to do this too why did it have to be me? I didn't do anything to him, not anything that would warrant this. At most I joked with him, in a probably rude way, but he joked back in the exact same way. Sure we fought and debated and argued but none of that excuses this."

"Elphaba, nothing excuses this," Glinda said squeezing her hand gently. "Nothing excuses it. Nothing justifies it. Nothing makes it right for him to have done."

"I know. I just don't understand. Was it something I said? Was it something I did? There's got to be an explanation," she looked at Glinda with tears in her eyes again. "I just want to know why he picked me. It's like the universe decided I haven't suffered enough in my life or something. Like the universe decided my visible scars and invisible ones weren't enough and that I needed more. It's like the universe decided that father hadn't hurt me enough and I needed someone my age to do it too."

"Elphie," Glinda said looking her in the eye. "This isn't the time for us to go into what the universe does or doesn't want. This isn't some huge philosophical issue. This is one man that we thought was our friend, turning out to be a monster. It's not some sign from the universe. It's not some grand message of any kind. It's one man who made the choice to hurt you."

"Glin, do you think…" she paused for a second looking into her eyes at the love they contained in them. "Do you think there's a happy ending for me in this life?"

"Of course, Elphie. I know there's a happy ending for you." Glinda was certain of this. She was. She knew however that Elphaba would never be certain of it and that saddened her.

"In this happy ending am I with you or with Fiyero?"

Glinda sighed. Elphaba had to be really sad and really scared of her future to ask that, and decided on the easiest reply. "Why not both?"

Elphaba turned and looked at Fiyero to see what he thought of that.

He smiled at her. "I wouldn't mind at all if you are okay with that. I mean I don't see why not. You said you love us both, and I can tell that you really do and Glinda and I both love you too. There's no need for any of that stupid 'love triangle' business honestly. And there's no need for you to have to choose between the two people you love. If you want, I'm not opposed to keeping things between us strictly platonic. Remember we said we'd give you whatever you want, and if you want both of us, then we will give you that. Honestly. You deserve whatever makes you happy. And if that's the two of us, then you deserve the two of us."

Before Elphaba could respond to that, there was a knock on the door. Then Madeline walked in followed by a police officer and a paramedic.

"Elphaba," Madeline said motioning to her politely, and Elphaba waved shyly. "This is Officer David—"

"Dah-veed, is how it's said. It's okay, I just wanted to be clear, my dad taught me to not let people mispronounce it," the officer said.

"David," Madeline corrected herself, saying to correctly that time, "and EMT Jessica. They would like to talk to you."

"Okay," Elphaba said. She hoped her voice didn't betray exactly how scared she was of having to talk to law enforcement.

"Firstly," Officer David said, "I'd like to extend my sympathy to you. Secondly, I'm going to have to ask you about something you said in the security footage. That this wasn't the first time? Can you elaborate on that for me?"

"I…he…the first time we were in high school." Elphaba didn't like having to talk about it with this police officer, she was terrified they'd think she was lying.

Officer David nodded encouragingly.

"He didn't believe me when I said I didn't like anyone in that way, that I was asexual, and he told me that asexual wasn't a real thing and he was going to make me see the truth, even if it took years." She honestly felt so small telling it like that, but it was the only way she could get the words out without crying again and she wasn't sure if Glinda had brought the aloe with her.

"I see. How long ago was that?" Officer David asked writing that information down on a little notebook. That information made it into not just rape, but also a hate crime. She wondered if Elphaba realized that. Of course with the woman's skin color difference, it could still be classified as a hate crime either way, depending on how the prosecutor decided to present the tale.

"Twenty years." It was the small fact that she didn't normally pay attention to. That this had been going on for so long. It brought tears to her eyes but she fought them back.

"How old were you?" Twenty years was a long time, especially if this had been going on the whole time.

"Fifteen." That was rough. She had to fight harder to not cry now.

"Did you tell your parents?" If she had that would make it a bit easier they could be questioned, especially about why they didn't go to the police about it then.

"No. I was scared to tell father. I felt like he'd get mad at me for what he did that I couldn't stop him from doing." She felt a tear slide down her cheek and she silently cursed herself for not being stronger. But then she felt the coolness of aloe on her fresh burn and let her eyes flick to the side for a moment and noticed Glinda had moved to be sitting on the arm of her chair with a box of tissues she'd somehow acquired and the aloe. Glinda was looking out for her.

"This has been going on for twenty years and you didn't tell anyone?" She knew if Avaric was always as harsh or worse with Elphaba as he had been in the security footage, the way he was with the officers who'd confronted him about it, she was probably too scared to.

"I was scared. In high school, I thought everyone would think I was lying. Most people didn't like me, I didn't want them to have more reason to not like me. In college, I was scared. I don't know what I was scared of. But I was scared. I might have been scared of going to the police, might have been scared of the courts. Father thinks he and I are getting married I doubt that would have helped me any in court. After college…after college it wasn't so much that I was scared of telling someone else, and more that I was scared of what he would do if I did. He was really rough with me whenever I'd try and fight him in bed or tell him no. I was afraid if I told someone and he found out, he'd do worse than just slap me." Elphaba took deep steady breaths, matching a pace that Glinda set for her, it helped to keep her calm during this telling.

"Did you tell anyone at all? Anyone." Officer David really hoped Elphaba had told at least one person that way she wouldn't have been suffering alone.

"I did, before today I had told one person. Dr. Anne Bradford, at the Planned Parenthood office on West Ozma Street. But I didn't mention his name. I told her the situation, but not his name. I was scared, I was eighteen when I first went there, he'd been doing this for three years and though I hadn't gotten pregnant but I was scared that I might. So I went there. I didn't know where else to go. She told me to go see this one guy at the health department and he could help me with getting periodic testing for STDs and STIs. Then she wrote me a prescription for birth control. She said it wouldn't be one hundred percent guaranteed to prevent a baby, but it would help. I still go see her, every other week. She asked me to, told me if I didn't feel I could tell anyone else about what I was going through I could still come to her." Elphaba continued breathing in the steady rhythm Glinda set for her for a moment without saying a word, and then continued speaking. "This morning, Fiyero came over to talk to me and Glinda because he'd heard a rumor that in high school Avaric didn't believe in asexual and had forced me to sleep with him in an attempt to cure me. I told him it was true and that's how he and Glinda found out despite me living with Glinda for the last sixteen years."

"Do you have contact information for this Dr. Bradford?" Officer David asked. Doctors kept records. Logically it was safe to assume Dr. Bradford had notes on what Elphaba had told her about the situation.

"I have her card," Elphaba said. "But it's in my jacket, which is still in the other room."

"You keep her card with you?" It probably wasn't as shocking as it seemed to be. Still from what she could tell Elphaba didn't seem much one for forgetting people's phone numbers and things.

"I feel safer with it in my pocket. Probably because for the longest time, other than Avaric and me, she was the only person who knew."

"I'm going to go retrieve your jacket from that room. While I do that, Jessica can explain what she needs from you." Officer David said then left the room.

* * *

 **One final note,** **in real life, in most places, an employer of someone who has this happen to them on the job site, is required to call the police but only the victim can press charges in this situation. I should probably have changed the lines to have Elphaba agree to press charges on him, but I'm not sure that she realistically would have changed her mind in this case, since it'd been less than a day since she first told someone she cared about about the situation.**

**Thank you for reading and understanding.**


	6. Chapter 6

Jessica walked over and extended a hand to Elphaba, who returned the handshake cautiously.

“I need to inform you of what’s going to happen now. There is video proof of the crime that was committed but by nature of the crime physical evidence must be collected. On that regard I want to make sure that you’re as comfortable as possible. The one thing I can do here, other than make sure you’re comfortable and know what’s going to happen at the hospital, is check you for external physical injuries. I understand that might be uncomfortable for you. I am not allowed to ask that you remove any articles of clothing for this, instead I will simply request that you show me your arms so I may determine if there is bruising.”

Elphaba nodded and held out her arms. Jessica gently examined them for bruising then made note of what she saw while explaining to Elphaba all the notes she was making.

“Do you know if you are bleeding anywhere?” Jessica asked.

“I’m not,” Elphaba said. “At least I don’t think I am.”

“May I ask about the burns on your cheeks?”

“I’m allergic to water,” Elphaba said honestly, knowing that would be important information for them to know wherever she was taken for the evidence to be collected. “It burns me. My tears tend to burn too, sometimes worse than just normal water because of the salt in them.”

“I have some oil based burn ointment, would you like some of that?”

Elphaba thought about that for a second, “Are you even allowed to treat the injuries? Wouldn’t they be better left to collect evidence from?”

“If the burns had been caused directly by the man, then yes they’d have to be left to collect evidence, but I could cover them with dry sterile gauze, but since they were caused by an allergy, and not him, I can treat them. They’re just coincidental.”

“That somehow doesn’t sound right to me,” Elphaba said. “But I trust you.”

Jessica was applying the burn ointment to Elphaba’s cheeks gently when Officer David came back in.

“It would be best, if you’re comfortable with it, Elphaba, to go ahead and go to the hospital for the exam. The sooner you go the sooner you can return to work if that is what you wish.” Officer David could tell Elphaba was the kind who didn’t want something like this to keep her from being able to do what she always did.

“Okay,” Elphaba said. “But who’s going to do the work here?” She was asking Madeline, because she and Avaric were the only employees other than her scheduled to work today.

“I will,” Fiyero said. “If that’s alright with you Madeline, I’ll do Elphaba’s work.”

Madeline nodded. “That sounds like a fair deal. You know as much about the job as she does.”

“Glinda can come with me to the hospital right?” Elphaba asked concernedly.

“Of course.”

They left the pharmacy at twelve thirty pm. When Elphaba and Glinda returned there it was almost six, Elphaba was in different clothes than she had been when she left. She was leaning on Glinda but she seemed relieved to walk into the pharmacy and not see Avaric standing at the cash register, watching her.

Glinda walked with Elphaba hand in hand to the pharmacy counter where Fiyero was still working.

They waited for a few minutes not saying a word, just both happy that something was finally going to happen.

“What will I tell father?” Elphaba said after a few minutes, when she remembered that Avaric had said he would meet them at the church after work.

“That he was trying to marry you off to a manipulative bastard that you never loved?” Fiyero asked as he walked over after he finished filling a customer’s prescription.

“He won’t believe me.”

“Actually, Fabala, he might.”

They all turned to see the person that was talking now, Shell.

“Shell what are you doing here?” Elphaba asked.

“Well, I don’t have any night classes for one. I heard about Avaric’s plan and I wanted to stop him. But it appears I’m a little late and the law already did that for me.”

“I didn’t realize you cared so much.”

“Sis, I’ve been trying to stop him since before he even started. I think it’s probably partly my fault he’s been so rough with you.” Shell looked down for a moment. Then he looked back up and smiled. “I’m sorry. I really did try to stop him from hurting you, I did. But when it started I was six. No one would listen to me. They all thought I was just being a little brat who didn’t like his sister’s new boyfriend.”

“Wait,” Elphaba said. “You told someone? How did you even know?”

“He told dad what he had planned, how he thought he could fix you. Dad agreed to let him try. I overheard. At the time, Dad thought you were falling for Glinda. I don’t think dad ever really accepted you for you. But it didn’t make sense to me that he would let anyone force you to do something you didn’t want to do. So I tried to tell him to leave you alone. I tried to stop him from hurting you. Elphaba, you’re my sister. I don’t want to see you hurt. It’s not about me. Yes, I tried telling. I told my teachers that I was scared that he was hurting you, and they just said it was normal for a little brother to be afraid when his favorite sister started spending more time with her boyfriend than with him.”

“Favorite?” Elphaba shook her head and sat in one of the chairs in the little waiting area. “Favorite sister?”

“You say that like you thought I hated you,” Shell said hurt.

Elphaba looked at the floor ashamed.

“You did. You thought I hated you. I don’t blame you, with how dad and Nessa treated you, of course you thought I felt the same as them.” He walked over and knelt beside his sister as Glinda and Fiyero watched. “Elphaba, please try to understand. I was, and always will be, on your side.”

“But how does that help me with father?” Elphaba asked.

“He respects me. He will listen to me. Nessa may be his favorite, but I’m the one in law school. He does have some sort of respect for me. Let me tell you his side of this matter, Elphaba. Dad thinks you two were dating. He thinks that because that’s what Avaric told him. He didn’t know that Avaric was hurting you, that his ‘plan’ didn’t work. He might not like you Elphaba, but that does not mean he condones what Avaric has been doing. You know how much he hates being lied to, hates being deceived. He won’t be happy, but I can convince him of the truth, that it’s better this way.”

“How will you do that?”

“Simple. I’m going to tell him the truth. That Avaric has been lying to him this whole time, that Avaric’s been taking advantage of you and him.”

“I know how he’s been taking advantage of me, but how’s he been taking advantage of father?”

Shell sighed. “It’s complicated Elphaba. Father’s been letting Avaric have a bigger say in Munchkin politics than is legal because of your supposed relationship.”

“So it was about power?” Elphaba muttered.

“Well it wasn’t about sex that’s for sure.” Shell took his sister’s hand. “Elphaba there’s things in life you just don’t understand. I know as the younger sibling I shouldn’t be the one to be saying that but it’s true. You grew up differently.”

“Everything about me is different, Shell.”

Glinda and Fiyero watched this conversation wonder. They’d never seen Elphaba interact with Shell before. They’d spent their entire lives thinking Elphaba didn’t get along with any of her family members.

“That’s not always a bad thing, Elphaba. It’s not. You might think it is, but ask yourself, of the two of us, who has friends willing to kill to protect them?” Shell looked to Glinda and Fiyero. “It’s you, sis.”

“You are too sweet Shell, but father isn’t that easy to impress. Is what Avaric said true? Is father really dying?”

“What?” It was the first and only time Elphaba had ever seen Shell angry. “He said that to you? I knew he’s an asshole, but I didn’t realize he would actually toy with your feelings about dad like that.”

“So he lied?” Elphaba asked. She’d never thought that Avaric or anyone could lie to someone about their parent being that sick.

“Yes, he lied. Dad’s perfectly not dying right now. I swear if I didn’t know that he was in police custody, I’d make him pay for talking about dad like that.”

Elphaba put on her best stern sister face, it was a practiced face and very effective. “You’d do no such thing, Shell. You would sit here with me like you are now, and stare daggers at him from across the room.”

Shell sighed and nodded with a smile. “I suppose you’re right. But he had no right to tell you that dad is dying when he isn’t. That’s just the lowest of low.”

Elphaba nodded. Then realized something. “Wait, did you say you’re in law school?”

“Surprised your little brother wants to be a lawyer?”

“I distinctly remember you saying all throughout school that you wanted to solve mysteries, I don’t ever once remember hearing you express any interest in the second half of the process.”

“To tell the truth, I do still want to be a forensic investigator. But I can’t stand blood. I faint, please don’t tell my friends.”

“Why would I tell your friends, I don’t even know them,” Elphaba said with a smile.

“You’re the best sister,” Shell said with a smile. “Don’t worry about dad, I’ll handle him and Nessa.”

“Nessa?”

“Avaric has her just as convinced as dad that you were going to marry him.”

Elphaba responded to that by just putting her head in her hands.

When Shell went to speak Elphaba interrupted him with just a simple statement. “I don’t know that I can do this anymore.”

Elphaba then found herself surrounded by three pairs of arms. Shell and Fiyero let go their hugs pretty quickly, mostly just because they were afraid they might be hurting her, but Glinda didn’t. Glinda never let go, not until she knew Elphaba was okay. Somehow Glinda managed to wiggle into the chair with Elphaba and was now sitting behind her with Elphaba on her lap, her arms were wrapped protectively around Elphaba’s waist. None of them were quite sure how Glinda had made that change of position happen, but the thing that shocked them wasn’t that it happened, it was that Elphaba let it happen.

Glinda kissed Elphaba’s cheek gently as she whispered to her. “Elphie, it’s going to be okay. From now on, it’s all about you. It’s not about Nessa, it’s not about your father, it’s not even about Shell. It’s about you.”

“It’s about me,” Elphaba repeated in a quiet whisper.

“Yes,” Glinda said nodding, letting her hair brush against Elphaba’s cheek. “It’s about you. What you want, what you need. What you can and what you can’t.”

“I can’t talk to Nessa,” Elphaba said.

“You don’t have to,” Glinda said. “We can do that for you.”

“I’m thirty-five years old Glinda, you’d think I’d be able to talk to my thirty-one year old sister,” Elphaba replied, “but I can’t. She doesn’t listen to me. She thinks she knows better than me about everything. I don’t think she quite understands.”

“There’s a lot of things Nessa doesn’t understand,” Glinda said. “One of them is boundaries. She gets too involved in other people’s lives. Elphaba, don’t worry about Nessa. She’ll be miffed that someone dared lie to her but then she’ll find something else to bother herself with and be over it. Listen to me, Elphie. I love you. In this matter all that matters is that there’s people who love you no matter what.”

Elphaba nodded. She was confused about how anyone could love her, but she didn’t say it. It must have shown on her face though, because the next person to speak was Shell.

“Elphaba, do you remember when I was four and you were thirteen and dad made you take me to the park to play while he went with Nessa to her doctor’s appointment. It was really warm out and I was playing in the creek and got into a deeper part and couldn’t swim out because my foot was stuck? You couldn’t swim, but there was a bridge that was nearly at water level with where I got stuck. You ran up on the bridge and pulled me out of the water, even though it hurt you to have your hand in the water that long.”

“I remember,” Elphaba said quietly, “I didn’t think you did though. You nearly died, because I couldn’t just jump in and save you.”

“No, Elphaba, I was fine, you saved me. You were the one who almost died. The burns on your hands wouldn’t stop bleeding and that nice police lady had to take you to the hospital. I’m not surprised you don’t remember that, you were out for two days from the pain and blood loss, according to the doctor. I don’t remember what they ended up doing to heal the burns. But you nearly died to save me. Elphaba, please don’t ever think I could hate you for anything. You’re the only one who’s always been there for me. Even when you were gone to college and beyond that. You were the only one who really cared. I may not have been good at showing it, but I always loved you most.” Shell gently placed a hand on Elphaba’s knee and looked her in the eye. “The entire time you were in the hospital for that, you kept asking the doctor and nurses if you’d done it, if you saved me. You kept asking them if I was okay.”

“You were my baby brother, I loved you, I still love you. I have to protect you.”

Shell shook his head lovingly. “No, sis. It’s my turn to protect you. You saved my life more than once, when I was younger. Trust me on this one, I’m going to protect you this time. I couldn’t do it before, but I’m going to do it now.”

Elphaba smiled. “I want to be there.”

“Then we should go now,” Shell said standing up. Fiyero stood beside Shell then Elphaba and Glinda stood. Madeline nodded at them as they left, having already closed the pharmacy for the day. She hoped they would be safe, as far as she could tell Elphaba had been through enough hell to last someone four lifetimes. She really hoped she didn’t have to go through any more of it.

They walked together, Glinda holding Elphaba’s hand and Fiyero talking to Shell about some sort of plan for if things did not go well in telling their dad that Avaric was a liar. At the church it was a different matter entirely there was something different about the air.

Frex and Nessa were the only two people in the church when the four of them arrived. Neither looked happy.

“I heard,” Frex said as they walked in.

Before he turned to them, Elphaba quickly switched to holding Fiyero’s hand, scared of how he would react to seeing her and Glinda holding hands.

“There’s not going to be a marriage. I only have one thing to say to you Elphaba. You’re not welcome in my house anymore. You have disappointed me for the last time.”

“It wasn’t her fault dad,” Shell said. “You have no right to be mad at Elphaba for this.”

“I have every right. I didn’t ask for much. A daughter who wasn’t a freak. A daughter who was nice. Who was quiet. Who liked boys. Maybe some grandchildren would be nice.”

“You have that, you have Nessa. Why can’t you just accept Elphaba for who she is?” Shell said. “You said that everyone is equal in the eyes of God. Why can’t you believe that about Elphaba?”

“Because it is no child of god. It is an inhuman demon. A wicked witch.”

Elphaba was trembling, she knew her father hated her but to hear him say the same things the kids at school, and older people in the little villages, used to say about her it made something in her break and she actually raised her voice to her father something she’d learned a long time ago not to do. “All I ever wanted was for you to love me. Everything I did I did for you. Everything. It wasn’t my choice for Avaric to do the things to me that he did. It was yours. I went with it. I let Avaric rape me, for twenty years I let that happen. Because of two reasons. I wanted you to be happy with me. I thought you were happy. And the other is that I was scared. I was actually terrified that you were happy. You only ever seemed to be happy when I was sad, or when I was silent. It took me twenty years to realize that Avaric was just an abusive asshole. It took me thirty five to realize the same about you. I’m through. If you can’t be happy with the child you were given fine. I’m done. I’m not your child anymore. Mama might not have ever told you, but she told me and she told Nanny. I was never yours to begin with.”

Frex looked like he’d been slapped and Fiyero looked like he might just do that, if it weren’t for the fact that Elphaba was still holding his hand, effectively rooting him to her side.

“Lies!” Frex moved to slap some sense into her, but was immediately intercepted by Shell and Fiyero.

“It’s the truth. Ask Nanny if you don’t believe me. I was never your child. I was the child of some traveler mama met when you were off preaching about how much god loves his children,” Elphaba said.

“Enough!” Frex was trying his best to get to Elphaba, he couldn’t stand hearing such things from her. Even if deep down he knew it was probably true, he still couldn’t stand hearing it.

“No. I’m through listening to you, I’m through with you telling me either indirectly by not defending me from people who said it, or directly by saying it yourself, that I am not good enough. That I’m somehow less than human. I didn’t ask to be born like this. I didn’t ask to be born. It was not my choice to be your child. It wasn’t my choice. It was however your choice not to throw me out on the street when mama died. You chose to keep me. I didn’t chose anything but to try to make you happy. I see now, that that was a mistake. You’ll never be happy with me or with anyone. You’re going to die a bitter lonely old man, and if you’re lucky, maybe Nessa will be there by your side, because I sure as hell won’t. And when god sends you to hell for the way you’ve treated his children, I’ll gladly be there waiting for you, so I can personally introduce you to Lucifer if that’s what it takes to earn your respect. Goodbye, father. See you in hell.”


	7. Chapter 7

It had to be some level of high treason amongst the church community for a preacher's child to curse them to hell inside a church, and Frex had every right to be mad at Elphaba for the words she said. But had in not taken Glinda almost a minute to realize Elphaba had rain out of the church, she wouldn't have seen the next thing to happen. The final piece of the Thropp family falling apart. Nessa stood up and walked over to her father and said just one sentence to him before pulling him over to one of the pews to sit down.

That sentence was, "Elphaba is right; pray to god that he forgives you for your sins or there's no saving you from hell."

Glinda turned to see what Elphaba had thought of that statement, but saw that she was gone. "Elphie?" she said quietly.

Glinda left after that, running to find Elphaba. Fiyero and Shell stayed for a moment longer making sure that Frex wasn't going to try to follow her.

"Elphie?" Glinda called running out of the church. She knew it couldn't have been easy for Elphaba to stand up to her father like that. It also couldn't have been easy for her to hear her father say what he did about her. No matter what happened, Glinda knew she had to find Elphaba. She had to be there for her. "Elphie, please where did you go?" She'd never realized that Elphaba was so fast.

When someone grabbed Glinda by the arm and pulled her into the shadow of the restaurant beside the church, Glinda nearly screamed out of fear and desperation. She couldn't let anything stand between her and finding Elphaba.

"Glin, it's just me, please don't scream," Elphaba said behind her.

Glinda turned and quickly wrapped her arms around Elphaba, who gratefully returned the gesture. "I'm sorry if I scared you."

"The only scary thing was that it hit me after a second that 'see you in hell' could just as easily be an 'I'm going to kill myself' threat as it is a 'fuck you' threat," Glinda said honestly. "The rest was pretty badass."

Elphaba's eyes went wide and she looked at Glinda. "Did it really sound like that was what I meant?" she asked very quietly.

"Unfortunately yes Elphie. That combined with your earlier comment that you just couldn't do it anymore," Glinda said.

Elphaba sighed and hugged Glinda close. "I didn't mean for it to sound like that. Honestly, I didn't."

Glinda held Elphaba close for a moment. "It's okay, Elphie. I'm just glad you're safe, honestly."

Elphaba nodded. "Glin," she said.

"Yeah?" Glinda asked slowly detaching herself from the hug, and bringing them both out of the shadows so Shell and Fiyero could find them easier.

"Do you think I'm going to hell for what I said to my father?" Elphaba asked. Her voice was quiet like she was second guessing standing up for herself.

"He's not your father, Elphie. And no. I think you're saved a special place in heaven for what you did. But I thought you didn't believe in that stuff." Glinda was trying hard to make sure that Elphaba knew she cared.

"I don't normally, but you know on the off chance I'm wrong about that," Elphaba said with a slight grin. "Gotta cover my bases you know?"

Glinda smiled at that attempt of a joke. Elphaba was trying to be okay, if only for her. Soon, she would be sure that Elphaba was trying for her own sake as well. "Don't worry Elphie. You'll be fine."

"You know, Glin, that was the first time I ever stood up my father. I wasn't even scared," Elphaba said taking Glinda's hand gently.

"You weren't scared?" Glinda asked carefully. "Not even a little?"

"He called me a demon, Glin. I couldn't stand it. I kind of just snapped. Did I frighten you at all?"

"Other than the thinking you might die? Yes, actually. You already asked that, but yes I was scared. Not that of what you were saying, but that you might do something you'd regret. Like actually hit him."

"I bet he was scared of that too. He tried to hit me didn't he? I barely noticed at the time, but he did."

"Yes, he did," Glinda said. She looked around to see if anyone they knew was nearby, and not seeing anyone, leaned up and placed a kiss gently on Elphaba's cheek. "But Shell and Fiyero stopped him. You should be proud of your little brother, he stood up for you."

"I am proud of him. I'm proud of him and happy that I have at least one family member that still cares about me."

"You should have heard what Nessa said when you left," Glinda said with a smile. "'Elphaba is right; pray to god that he forgives you for your sins or there's no saving you from hell.' She actually agreed with you."

Elphaba nodded. "Nessa's read the entire bible. She's not one to follow it's every word, because some of it is impossible to follow in our society, but she does like that it says only god can judge his children. I think it's because of her disability. She's different too, and she doesn't let it bother her anymore."

"Did you just compliment your sister? Who are you and what have you done with my Elphie?" Glinda said with a semi-serious chuckle.

"I did," Elphaba said. "Your Elphie is still right here in front of you, I just can't help but admire that one single quality of Nessa."

Glinda smiled. "It is a good quality to have."

"Fae, Glin," Fiyero called out running over to them with Shell not far behind. "Are you both alright?"

Glinda and Elphaba both nodded. They were smiling. Elphaba looked around, it wasn't quite dark yet but it was getting there so she thought she needed to decide what the best course of action would be. They could go home, maybe try to sleep. That didn't sound fun at all thought, but it did sound relaxing. No one was paying attention to this bunch of misfits standing at the corner of a restaurant and an alley, just casually talking and being alive.

"Do any of you want to get food?" Elphaba asked. The restaurant seemed like a good place to be, and she hadn't eaten since breakfast.

Shell nodded. "That sounds like a wonderful idea." He was a little hungry and he wanted to spend more time with his sister.

Fiyero looked at her skeptically. "How are you planning on paying for it? You don't have your wallet."

"How do you know that?" Elphaba asked then quickly felt her pockets in panic and he was right, her wallet wasn't there. That wasn't fun. She forgot she wasn't wearing the same clothes she'd put on that morning. "Where'd it go?" she muttered, still searching her pockets.

Fiyero reached in his own pocket and pulled it out, he felt bad seeing her search so frantically for it. Glinda gently nudged Elphaba and pointed to him.

Elphaba took it from him gratefully. It didn't even dawn on her to ask why he had it in the first place, she just put it in her pocket then motioned to the restaurant they were standing beside. "Anyone object to here?"

"Nope," Glinda said with a smile. "It seems like a nice place."

"I agree," Fiyero said. "It does seem nice."

Elphaba nodded. "Here it is then." She led them inside.

Everything seemed to be straight out of the big band era. The wait staff were dressed in suits and dresses that looked like they came straight out of a movie about Frank Sinatra. The furniture reminded Elphaba of a fancy hotel.

"Welcome," a lady said walking over to them and smiling, "to The Ritz. Do you have a reservation?"

"Reservation?" Glinda asked quietly.

Then a bright idea popped in Elphaba's head. "Do you know who I am?"

"Of course I know who you are," the waitress said. "But even you, Miss Munchkinland's governor's granddaughter, need a reservation."

"She's joking," another waiter walked over to them and bowed a little. "We don't even take reservations. May I show you to a table?"

Elphaba smiled and nodded. "That would be lovely, sir."

The waiter smiled and motioned for the group to follow him. He led them past the first couple of chairs and into a room they hadn't even realized was there. "Today, for you a special. We have some guest performers from Shiz University, and we'd be delighted if you'd partake in their music as you dine. This is our live performance room. As they say, 'dinner and a show'. If you'd rather listen to the recorded music though, I can put you in the other room."

"No, this will be perfect," Elphaba said. The others nodded they were letting Elphaba have control of the situation, not that they thought any different but they felt like it was best to let her take charge, considering she'd just told her dad to go to hell and had earlier in the day been robbed of control.

"What are the guests of honor playing for us today?" Glinda asked.

"I'm not entirely sure I'm afraid. But I guarantee it's going to be good. The boss only lets the best play here. It's considered an honor, and the Shiz Symphony has never disappointed us in the past."

"I was in the Shiz Symphony for a while," Shell says as they were taking their seats around the table that the waiter led them to.

"Really?" Elphaba was surprised. "I thought only music majors could get into the symphony."

"I have a bachelors of music performance, and a bachelors of science in philosophy and forensic studies. I'm working on my law degree right now," Shell said in explanation. "I'm twenty-six, Fabala, try not to forget that. I've done a lot in my life. I almost got married once."

"To who?" Elphaba asked. "Anyone I know?"

"Do you remember Bird?" Shell asked.

They were all looking over the menus and listening as members of the symphony warmed up backstage.

"That cute Quadling girl from your chemistry class?"

"She's the one. We almost got married."

"What happened?" It was a good question, a simple question.

"I'm not entirely sure," Shell said. "It wasn't simple. Like, she wanted to marry me, and I wanted to marry her. But it just didn't happen, I don't know why. One day we were engaged and the next she told me we couldn't get married and that was the last I ever saw of her."

"That's a little concerning Shell do you know if she's okay?"

"I think she is. I've written to her a couple times, and she writes me back occasionally telling me about her little brothers and her work with her mother. But she hasn't told me why we couldn't get married."

"I'm glad she's okay, but that's still rough. I'm sorry." Elphaba wasn't quite sure what to do, she'd never been good at comforting people, all it ever took to comfort Glinda generally was a hug or two.

"It's alright, it's been a few years, I'm over it. Anyway, tell me about you, Fababla. Please, we haven't talked in a long time, I want to know what's been going on with you."

When the waiter came back to take their orders they had all picked something that looked good to them, Elphaba being very happy that they had some vegetarian options.

"Well," she said as the waiter took the menus away. "I'm not a girl."

"I think I knew that," Shell said scratching his chin. "You told me one time that you didn't feel like a girl and if I'm right my response was, 'does this mean that you can buy me videogames and no one will make fun of you?' and I think you just laughed, but I'm not sure. I was like ten."

"I think that was exactly what happened, if I'm honest. I'm nonbinary," Elphaba said, looking around, there weren't many other people in the room and none of them seemed to be paying attention to them. "Not a girl and not a boy."

"But you're still she?"

"I am. It's easier for other people to comprehend if I use she pronouns," Elphaba said with a nod.

"I understand. What did you study?"

"Biology, and philosophy."

"You're the one that Dr. Dillamond keeps talking about! He says you're the best student he's ever had. You tried harder than anyone he'd ever taught before and continue to excel in lab work even well beyond your school years."

"I think so? He's my favorite professor. I still work in his lab three days a week, so I probably am that person." Elphaba smiled one of her more genuine smiles that she saved for when she was really happy.

"You're really happy that he said you're his favorite," Shell pointed out with a smile.

"He's my favorite," Elphaba said again. "Of course I'm happy."

Glinda looked up in shock. "Did you just admit that you're happy?"

Elphaba nodded. "Shell told me that Dr. Dillamond thinks I'm the best student he's ever had."

Glinda smiled widely. "That's amazing. Congratulations, Elphie."

"Today," a man said from the stage and they all turned to see him. "I would like to present, the Shiz University Symphony Orchestra playing for you a selection of pieces by Christopher Tin called 'Calling All Dawns.' They will be conducted by Dr. Ravyn Baxter and will be accompanied by select members of the Shiz chorus."

The group and the others in the room clapped, and after the musicians had taken their place on stage and began their piece the waiter came back with the food. They began eating, simply savoring the food and the music for a while. None of them could really understand the words the choir was singing, but that was only because it was written in a different language, still they were moved by it. After Elphaba had finished her food, she listened to the music tapping her foot at times. When the piece was over, despite them all having finished eating, none of them had said a word, out of respect and awe. Elphaba was the first to clap.

When the clapping finally subsided and they paid their tab then left, it was extremely dark out in spite of the bright lights of downtown. For a moment they didn't realize that it was well after nine at night and none of them had a car. They looked at each other for a moment stepping away from the door.

* * *

**Calling All Dawns belongs to Christoper Tins (it is real and it is beautiful you can find it on youtube, I highly recommend it but it is like 45 minutes long)**


	8. Chapter 8

They walked together for a moment. Shell looked around not really sure where exactly in the city he was, he didn’t really pay all that much attention to where he was going when he came to help Elphaba today, and now he slightly regretted it.

“Yero, are you going home tonight or would you like to stay with us?” Elphaba asked.

“I need to feed my dogs. I’d love to stay with you two but the dogs have been home alone all day,” Fiyero said. “Shell would you like me to walk you home?”

Shell smiled gratefully. “That would be nice actually.” He stuck his hands in his pockets, not knowing what else to do with them. He felt something in his pocket and pulled it out. Looking at it in the light of the streetlamp he realized it was his own phone number on an index card that said ‘note to self, let Elphaba have my number’. He chuckled to himself then looked to his sister and held out the card. “I almost forgot sis. Here’s my phone number in case you ever wanna be around the family member that doesn’t hate you.”

Elphaba took the card hesitantly then chuckled at the words on the card. “I think we get this from mom,” she said. “She used to put notes to herself in the books she’d let me read. They were mostly things like, ‘Frex would have a heart attack if I suggested this’ or ‘I wish the beach was closer’. Once there was ‘how do I tell Elphaba that I don’t know who her real dad is’ and that’s how I got mom to tell me that I wasn’t father’s child.”

“You should tell me more about mom sometime Fabala, but I have a test tomorrow, so I really should go study.” Shell really was interested in hearing more about his mother, but this test determined half his grade in that class.

“I will Shell, don’t worry, go study. But do sleep too,” Elphaba said. “I hear sleep is good for you.”

Elphaba smiled at her brother hoping he knew she meant well. It had taken her two semesters and Glinda locking her in their room with no books for her to realize that sleep was just as important as studying. She hoped that Shell was smarter about himself than she had been.  

“No need to worry, Elphaba,” Shell said. “I’ve got this.”

He and Fiyero nodded and said goodbye then left to head off home. Leaving Elphaba and Glinda alone. They walked on alone for a while in the half-light of the streets. Elphaba was holding Glinda’s hand and they were silent. To them it wasn’t important to talk, just being together was enough. Elphaba kept a close eye on the street signs and gently navigating Glinda onto the correct path and soon they were home, and happy. After Elphaba opened the door and let them in Glinda immediately ran off to the bathroom.

Elphaba headed into the bedroom and began making the bed. She wasn’t really sure what else to do. Today had been a rough day and she knew soon it would get rougher, she’d probably have to testify at the trial, if there was a trial.

“Glin,” she called out.

“I’m a little busy,” Glinda called back from the bathroom.

“I was just wondering. Do you think there will be a trial?”

Glinda was unusually quiet after that question. A few minutes later she walked into the bedroom. “I’m not sure, Elphie. There probably will be.”

“What does this mean for us?” Elphaba asked. She wasn’t looking at Glinda, she just kept fussing with the sheets and trying to set up the bed.

“Elphie,” Glinda said calmly, sweetly. She walked over and very gently, as to not startle her, put her arms around her and soothingly caressed her arms trying to help her de-stress. “It simply means there’s still, forgive the wording, one more trial you have to go through. I will be there with you, you won’t have to go it alone.”

Elphaba nodded. She let the sheet fall to the bed and simply stood there taking in the touch and knowing that it was okay, that it would all be okay. It had to be. It just had to be. It really did. She was sure that after a while she’d feel a little better, but now she was just a little jittery over it all being so fresh, so close to home right now. She hoped that after a good night’s sleep she’d feel more like it was all normal. The problem with that thought was that it wasn’t normal. It wasn’t normal at all.

“Why did the watch go on vacation, Elphie?”

Elphaba turned and looked at Glinda, she was smiling, which made Elphaba smile a lot. Somehow, Glinda probably thought that a bad joke would help her feel better. “I’m not sure, Glin, why?”

“He needed to unwind.” Elphaba smiled and chuckled. She had to admit the joke, while childish, was rather funny.

Elphaba’s smile made Glinda smile more.  She decided to keep up the bad jokes to lighten the mood. “What’s a cow’s favorite game?”

Elphaba thought about this, she knew it was a joke but wasn’t sure what to say that would make the joke work. “What?”

Glinda smiled and chuckled. “Moosical chairs.”

Again Elphaba chuckled, then she remembered one that her mom had told her once that always made Nessa and Shell stop crying when they were fussy babies. “What did the king say to the Royal Math and Science teachers?”

Glinda tilted her head she wasn’t sure where this was going she’d never heard Elphaba make a nonscarcastic joke before. “what?”

“Ah, my favorite subjects.”

Glinda stared for a second then burst out into full giggles. When she nearly fell over from the force of her giggles, Elphaba spun her around and let her fall onto the bed. It was a bad idea though because Glinda was holding onto her shirt and when she fell back, so did Elphaba.

For half a second Elphaba froze, but then just a quickly she relaxed and rolled off of Glinda so that they were laying side by side on the bed.

“I love you, Elphie,” Glinda said happily, rolling over to look at her.

“I love you too, Glin, but I should probably finish making the bed if we’re gonna fall asleep,” Elphaba said quietly.

Glinda smiled at her and nodded. She thought of something she’d like more but pushed the thought away she could live without it quite easily, she had been for 15 and a half years since she and Fiyero stopped dating anyway. When she stood up and pulled Elphaba off the bed she was content with what they would and wouldn’t ever do.

Then Elphaba asked, “Can I kiss you?”


	9. Chapter 9

Glinda wasn’t expecting that. Kisses weren’t inherently sexual, still Elphaba had never expressed any interest in them before. “Of course you can,” she said with a nod.

Elphaba smiled, leaned over and gently captured Glinda’s lips in a soft kiss. It was nice, albeit a little awkward, considering Elphaba had never kissed anyone she liked before. She pulled away shortly and was blushing like she did when she first admitted that she might have a crush on Fiyero.

“I’m sorry if that was bad,” Elphaba said quietly. “I never kissed anyone before, well other than…yeah, sorry if I’m not good yet.”

Glinda smiled and chuckled a little. “It’s okay, Elphie. You did great for a first time. One suggestion for next time you want to kiss someone, angle your head a little more to the opposite side that they have theirs, it’ll help keep from bumping noses.”

Elphaba smiled. “Was it okay that I asked first?”

Glinda smiled widely. “Of course, Elphie. Honestly I would have been a little worried if you didn’t.”

Elphaba smiled. She was glad that Glinda was happy with her, it certainly made her feel a lot better about everything that had transpired that day. She then returned to fixing up the bed back to a livable condition.

Glinda kept watching her for a moment, amazed by how her mind was obviously working right now. Which is to say it generally wasn’t obvious at all. But Glinda could make guesses. Like guessing that Elphaba wanted that kiss to know something. Perhaps her own limits or strengths, or maybe even just to see if she was dreaming. Then when she knew what she wanted to know she went back to doing the thing that was comforting. Elphaba’s mind was a marvel to Glinda, especially since after 16 years of living together, she still hadn’t figured it out.

It was quite easy for Elphaba to say the same about Glinda’s mind. She had no clue exactly how her little blonde companion worked. She was happy though, happy with that little one. Yeah, maybe she didn’t understand everything Glinda had told her about over the years, especially concerning architecture or her relationship with Fiyero, but she did understand the important things, like when Glinda was hurting or when she was scared. Sometimes it worried Elphaba that she didn’t fully understand how Glinda’s mind work, but then she remembered that she wasn’t quite sure how her own mind worked, so it was okay.

“Glin,” Elphaba said after a moment of just thinking. “Were you serious about what you said in Madeline’s office?”

“Which thing, I said a lot of things.”

“When I asked if in the happy ending you saw for me I was with you or with Fiyero and you said ‘why not both?’ Were you serious?”

“I was Elphaba. I was very serious. You shouldn’t have to choose between us. We’ve both made our choice very clear Elphaba. We both chose you. You said you love us both. We don’t want you to choose. We want you to be happy. That’s all we’ve ever wanted.”

“You mean on a grand scale right? You’ve wanted a lot of things in your life.”

Glinda just sighed. “Listen to me Elphaba, stop fussing with the sheet and listen to me.” She watched Elphaba drop the sheet again then sit on the edge of the bed and look at her. She stared into her dazzling brown eyes and started talking again. “Elphaba, I love you. Fiyero loves you. We both love you. We want nothing more from or for you than for you to be happy. You can say you’re dating both of us, or you can say you’re not dating at all. I don’t care. I just want you to know, we chose you. We love you. We’re never going to leave you. We won’t hurt you. We won’t do anything you don’t want to do.”

Elphaba nodded. “I’m just confused,” she said.

“What part confuses you, Elphie?”

“What does this mean about you and Fiyero? Like, together?”

“I’m confused, Elphie, what exactly are you asking?”

“Will you and he be together too?”

“Wait, do you mean like…” She drew a triangle in the air. “A triangle? Where all the points connect including mine and his?”

“Yes. Will it be like that or will your point and his not connect, like an upside down v instead of a triangle?”

“It depends on what Fiyero wants. If he wants my point to connect to his, I’m not against it. I’m not against loving him too,” Glinda said. “You understand don’t you that there are things Fiyero wants that you can’t give him.”

“I know,” Elphaba said quietly.

“I can give him those things, Elphie. I’m not against that. I can live without it, but I’m not against it.”

“Don’t do anything you don’t want to,” Elphaba said in the same quiet voice.

Glinda nodded. “I would never, Elphie. Never. There’s been times I’ve not done things I wanted to because I knew you didn’t. The same happened quite a bit between me and Fiyero when we were dating. There were times when I wouldn’t do something because I didn’t want to and he understood and he didn’t push the topic or the thing. I responded in kind when there were things he didn’t want but I did. Things that you do want. Things, like cuddles that don’t go beyond that, things like an actual conversation.”

Elphaba nodded and stood up. Then she leaned over and quietly whispered in Glinda’s ear. “I really do love you. May I kiss you again?”

This time Glinda shook her head, “I want to know why first.”

Elphaba tilted her head a little. “I’m confused. Does there need to be a reason? I love you. Isn’t this just what people in love normally do?”

Glinda shook her head. “Elphie you know better than that, what’s the real reason?”

“Does there need to be a reason?” Elphaba asked again, in the same manner which she always used when she was avoiding a topic. Glinda noticed she’d used that tactic in the past a lot when she’d try to get her to talk about her childhood or Avaric.

“Yes,” Glinda said in a tone that left no room for arguments or further avoidance.

“I wanted to see,” Elphaba said in a dismissive manner.

“See what?” Glinda challenged, she wasn’t about to let this drop, it was extremely out of character for Elphaba and she wanted to know.

“See how far my brain would let me go,” she said quietly. “I never really had a choice in it before.” She sat down on the bed and Glinda sat down beside her. She barely noticed when Glinda took her hand. “You, you know me. You know me better than I know myself. When Fiyero asked it was one time, I said no and he never brought it up again. Avaric…well you see how well that went, I never had a choice. I have a choice with you. I want to try, maybe not a lot, maybe not anything for myself, but I’m not completely stupid in these things, Glin. I know there’s things I could do for you, that would make you very happy. I wanted to see what my brain would let me do. I thought, ‘start small til you’re comfortable enough to try something else. Ask her if you can kiss.’ That’s why.”

Glinda nodded. “I understand, I think. To put it in more Glinda-ish terms. You want me to be happy too.”

Elphaba smiled and nodded. “That’s exactly what I mean.”

“Elphie, why do you think we cuddle so much?”

Elphaba tilted her head, unsure what that had to do with her asking for a kiss. “Because it’s comfortable?”

“Well yes, but it’s also that it makes me happy,” Glinda said sweetly. “Most of the things we do make me happy Elphie or I wouldn’t do them.” She made a point to look directly into Elphaba’s eyes. “You do not need to do anything that makes you uncomfortable, just to make me happy.”

“I know,” Elphaba said. “The thing is Ga-linda,” she said purposefully using, and exaggerating, her old name. “I want to.”


	10. Chapter 10

Glinda sat for a moment unresponsive to Elphaba’s statement. She’d never heard Elphaba so sure of herself when it didn’t have to do with school.

“No.” Glinda didn’t like having to be like this, but she really didn’t want to hurt Elphaba in anyway, and she didn’t think she could trust herself to not take things too far or too fast. She probably had more self-control than she was giving herself credit for, but at the same time she really didn’t want Elphaba to regret anything she decided to do.

“No?” Elphaba looked at Glinda, sadly. She hadn’t thought that Glinda would say no. She wasn’t expecting it at all, she wasn’t even quite sure what Glinda was saying no to.

“No. I’m not letting you do anything you might regret.”

It clicked in Elphaba’s head then that Glinda wasn’t saying no to the kiss exactly, she was saying no to everything else that she’d implied. “I won’t. Glinda give me some credit here. I know what I want, mostly. I know how to say no when I’m uncomfortable. I won’t be doing anything I don’t want to. I don’t want anything else tonight. Just another kiss. That’s it.” She leaned over and rested her forehead on Glinda’s shoulder for a moment. “Please Glinda, that’s all I want. Just a kiss.”

Glinda thought about why Elphaba was responding the way she was. Surely Elphaba had been told no about things she wanted before. Why then would she be so insistent on this one thing? “Just a kiss? That’s it?”

“For now, yes,” Elphaba said looking up at her. “Just a kiss, nothing more.”

“I’m not sure you understand Elphie,” Glinda said calmly.

“It’s not just about me,” Elphaba said, surprising Glinda. “It’s about your wants and don’t wants too. You want me to be happy, you don’t want me to be uncomfortable in anyway. I respect that. You want to be happy. I want you to be happy. Please try to think about this from my view.”

And Glinda did, she closed her eyes and thought about everything Elphaba had been through and everything Elphaba had said about herself. Finally something in Glinda’s head said, ‘she’s scared. Avaric made everything about this painful for her. She wants to make good memories, and she wants them to be with you. Give her that chance.’ And Glinda realized why this was so important, why Elphaba was being so persistent, well persistent for Elphaba.

“Elphaba are you scared?” Glinda asked.

“Scared? Why would I be scared?” Elphaba asked in a tone that made it very clear Glinda had said something true.

“Because of Avaric,” Glinda said. “You said it yourself you never had a choice with him. He made everything about things like this painful for you. He never even tried to make you comfortable or happy. Did he?”

Elphaba shook her head. Glinda was right on the mark, even if Elphaba couldn’t bring herself to open her mouth and say it on her own.

“That’s why you’re being so insistent on trying to make me happy like this.”

Elphaba nodded a little, it was very slight, barely noticeable. She didn’t want Glinda to feel bad for her and she didn’t want it too seem like she only cared about this for herself.

“So you want to kiss me, because I smiled. You saw it made me happy and you want to do it again. Am I close?”

Elphaba nodded again. Then Glinda leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on Elphaba’s lips. Elphaba hesitated only a second before kissing back, then they pulled apart and Glinda hugged her.

“Elphie, I will try to help you through this, the best I can. But I need you to promise me something. If you aren’t comfortable you will tell me so and we will stop. For now though, you’re tired. I’m tired. Let me help you finish making the bed and we’ll get some sleep.”

Elphaba nodded. She was extremely happy with that arrangement and moved to the other side of the bed and motioned for Glinda to grab the other side of the sheet. Soon they had the bed made and Glinda initiated an impromptu pillow fight. Which by after a few minutes caused them to both collapse on the bed in a fit of giggles. After a while, the phone rang and Glinda stood.

“Wait here,” she said and ran off to answer the phone.

After a while Elphaba decided to change into her pajamas and walked over to the door, where she could hear Glinda talking in a hushed whisper to the person on the phone.

“You don’t think he’ll try to hurt her again do you?” a moment of the other voice, unheard by Elphaba. “If you find him, please let us know. I know you’re right and it’s more likely he skipped town to avoid the whole thing, but on the off chance he’s still here…” more from the other end. “I understand. Should I tell her it’s safer not to go to work tomorrow? ...Well if you think it’s safe then I won’t, just please call us if you find out anything else about him.” Then Elphaba heard the distinct click of the phone being hung up.

A few moments later Glinda turned to walk back into the bedroom, but stopped just short of walking in when she saw Elphaba in the door. She sighed, Elphaba had probably heard everything she said and there was no use trying to keep it a secret.

“Avaric, got released because someone paid his bail, they couldn’t tell me who. They think he skipped town, because all attempts to find him and all attempts to contact him have turned up nothing. They have officers looking out for him in our neighborhood, his neighborhood and downtown. If he’s still here somewhere, they will find him,” Glinda said with another sigh. She’d wanted more than anything for Elphaba to have no reason to be afraid anymore.

“In the morning,” Elphaba said calmly. “Call Fiyero, and Shell. Tell them both to be on the lookout for him too. Don’t worry, Glin. I have an overprotective brother, and two fiercely overprotective friends. I’ll be safe.”

Glinda stared at her for a moment, then nodded. “I’ll do that. Can we just get some sleep for now?”

Elphaba nodded and pulled Glinda into a quick gentle hug. “Go change into your pajamas and I’ll give you a massage.”

“I’m too tired for that, Elphie,” Glinda said with a yawn. “I’d prefer to be awake for that massage.” She headed off to change into her pajamas and less than a minute later she and Elphaba were curled up together under the blanket.

“My sweet, don’t you want to wash up a little first? The bath could really help you de-stress,” Elphaba said as Glinda snuggled close to her.

“No. I want sleep,” Glinda said in the same voice she’d used when she was stressed over exams.

“I insist you wash up in the morning though,” Elphaba said kissing the blonde curls on Glinda’s head. “It will help you feel better.”

“Sleep,” Glinda mumbled but nodded.

It didn’t take long for Glinda to fall asleep not with Elphaba holding her so tenderly. It didn’t take long for Elphaba to fall asleep either, which was shocking considering she didn’t feel tired, just stressed.

They had been asleep for a couple hours when Elphaba awoke with a start. It was barely after midnight but something told her that she hadn’t woke up just from her normal sleeplessness. At first she was worried that maybe she or Glinda had had a nightmare. But Glinda was sound asleep and she had no new tear marks on her face and no memory of dreaming. She shook her head slightly trying to clear it of whatever woke her. She started to relax a little and fall back asleep when she heard a sound that sounded like it was coming from the back door. Sort of a soft whimpering sound.

Despite her paranoia at what could be making sounds like that at twelve-thirty in the morning, she decided to go check it out. She gently detangled herself from Glinda and headed to the back door to see what was out there. When she opened the door it only took her a second to realize it was raining and spot the two figures huddled up on her porch. She turned on the light to see them better. A smallish German Shepard and a huddled up little girl, with black hair and a slightly tan complexion, were illuminated by the faint yellowish glow of the light.

“Arriane?” she asked quietly, not sure she was seeing correctly.


	11. Chapter 11

"Hi, miss Elphaba," the girl said quietly in response. "May I come in?"

"Why aren't you at home, it's after midnight? Won't your mom be worried?"

"She went out of town," Arriane said. "May I please come in?"

Elphaba nodded and moved away from the door. Arriane stood up and the puppy did too, but the puppy did not follow Arriane into the house. He sat down at the door and looked quizzically at them.

"Can Denver come in too?" Arriane asked standing in the kitchen, where the backdoor led out from.

"Of course he can," Elphaba said with a smile. "Just don't let him on the bed in the master bedroom, Glinda's still asleep."

Arriane snapped her fingers and Denver came running to her in his best puppy excitement mode. He wagged his tail but understanding the word 'asleep' didn't bark. Arriane smiled and petted his head. Then she looked up at Elphaba who shut the back door silently.

"Mommy isn't going to be home from work until six in the morning, I don't have to be at school til eight. Mama and my baby sister are out of town, I don't remember why. I got locked out cause Denver had to go to the bathroom," Arriane said. "I didn't expect the door to shut behind me and I don't have a key."

Elphaba nodded. "You must be tired."

"I am. Can I sleep on your couch?"

"No. But you can sleep in the guest room," Elphaba said. "After you wash up a little. Did you fall? You've got mud on your arms."

"I'm just close to the ground Miss Elphaba. Denver splashed me." Arriane smiled. Then she looked down at the mud Denver tracked over the floor. "I can clean that up too if you want."

"No, it's fine, I'll get it, you just go and wash yourself and Denver up," Elphaba said with a smile.

Arriane turned to Denver then leaned down and scooped him up into her arms. "I'll get him and me nice and clean and dry," she said then headed off to the bathroom, remembering where it was from when she and her parents came over for dinner a few weeks earlier.

Elphaba chuckled a little realizing that it was possible that Arriane just didn't want to be alone at home this late at night. Silently she because cleaning the mud off the floor. "Perhaps," her brain said. "You should talk to Glinda about getting a child of your own."

She kept cleaning until all the mud was gone and the floor was nice and dry again. That thought lingered in her head, this wasn't the first time it had popped in, and it probably wouldn't be the last. But there was a problem with it. She knew from listening to Glinda talk that the little blonde couldn't have a child and Elphaba herself was too scared to. Perhaps then, maybe talking to Glinda about adopting a child would be best. Something in her told her that she and Glinda would be great parents. Fiyero could be too if he tried.

When she was done cleaning she sat down at the table for a moment thinking about this. She'd need to talk to Glinda but they could probably do the thing if they tried. If Glinda wasn't against it. She couldn't for the life of her think of a reason Glinda would be against it. Maybe, she reasoned, Glinda doesn't like children. But she shook her head freeing herself of that thought, she'd seen Glinda interact with kids before, she seemed almost like she was born for that in a way.

Perhaps in another life, Glinda would make a great teacher, Elphaba thought to herself. After a while, Arriane came back into the kitchen with Denver. They were both very clean and very dry.

"See, I got us clean and dry," Arriane said proudly.

"That you did," Elphaba said with a smile. "Now let's get you to bed."

"Miss Elphie, can I ask a question first?" Arriane said shyly.

"Sure," Elphaba said wondering what could be on the girl's mind.

"Why aren't you and Miss Glinda married yet?"

Denver walked over and sat by Elphaba, seemingly knowing she wasn't prepared to answer that question. Elphaba reached down and scratched his head gently trying to think of an answer that she would understand.

"We just haven't gotten that far in our relationship," Elphaba said, hoping that would be enough for her.

"Miss Glinda knows you love her though. And you know that she loves you. Isn't that all you need?"

"It's a little more complex than that," Elphaba said. "It takes more than just love to get married."

"Really? What else does it take?" Arriane asked with a yawn.

"Well first, you and the person you want to marry should be dating," Elphaba said. "Glinda and I aren't, yet."

"Then why do you live together?"

"You'll understand when you're older."

"I'd understand now, if you told me. I'm not stupid."

"Arriane, I don't even understand myself. I love Glinda, but I can't even bring myself to figure out if we're actually dating or not, much less if I want to marry her," Elphaba said with a sigh. She hoped then that Arriane could tell she wasn't frustrated with her, only with herself.

"You do want to marry her," Arriane said very seriously. "I can tell. You're just scared. Mommy was scared to ask mama to marry her, but she did. You're scared. That's okay. If you don't know something, that's okay too. Mommy said so. You just need, a little help. Do you and Miss Glinda go on dates?"

Elphaba nodded silently, wondering why she was listening so intently to this little girl.

"Then you are dating. It's that simple. Maybe you aren't 'girlfriends' but that's okay. You don't need to label things. Some day you and Miss Glinda will get married. When that happens, can I be your flower girl?"

Elphaba sighed, this girl didn't quite understand how complex the situation was. "What about Fiyero?"

"You don't wanna marry him. I'm pretty sure you're only allowed to marry one person. You want that to be Miss Glinda. Mister Fiyero is nice, but he's not the right person for you to marry."

She had to admire Arriane's determination in this matter, but she also had to wonder just how much kids knew that people thought they didn't. "How do you know that?"

"He doesn't date."

Elphba was shocked. She hadn't thought that Arriane, or really anyone other than she and Glinda, had noticed that about Fiyero. She couldn't argue the logic though, after all, she was the one who said you needed to date the person you wanted to marry. "Arriane, you really should get some sleep."

"So should you," Arriane countered, knowing that she was right and Elphaba just didn't have a response.

"Then let's both sleep," Elphaba suggested.

Arriane nodded and motioned for Denver to follow her as Elphaba stood to lead them both to the guest room, which was just down the hall from the master bedroom.

Elphaba tucked Arriane into bed, and kissed her head as she said goodnight to her. When Arriane said goodnight back and closed her eyes to sleep, Elphaba quietly left the room. She wondered slightly, if sometime in the future, she'd be tucking her own kid into bed every night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's short, it's finals time, and I've been working on so many things at once, along with coping with a few mental/emotional breakdowns over the last week or so, that my head feels like it's going to explode and I think I'm going to die of allergies.


	12. Chapter 12

After Arriane was asleep Elphaba returned to the master bedroom, and carefully climbed back into bed with Glinda. She wanted to get perhaps a few more hours of sleep before one of Arriane's parents inevitably called asking if she'd come over.

When the phone rang at seven in the morning, Elphaba awoke along with Glinda, neither really remembering falling asleep.

"I'll get it," Glinda said with a yawn, then hopped up out of the bed.

Elphaba laid there a moment longer before hearing, "Elphie, is Arriane here?"

"She is, she's in the guest room, should I wake her?" Elphaba called quietly.

A moment of Glinda quietly talking on the phone, before she responded to Elphaba's question. "Not yet, it's a teacher work day so she doesn't have to go in, her mom just wanted to make sure that she was safe."

"I wonder how she knew to call us."

"Let me ask… Apparently we're Arriane's favorite neighbors."

"Interesting," Elphaba said. She stood up and stretched then went off to change into normal clothes. Then she walked from her bedroom, to the kitchen to start some coffee to go with breakfast, she knew Glinda was going to need it. When she walked in the kitchen she noticed something that struck her as odd, a bit of fluff sticking out from under one of the chairs, it looked almost like the end of a scarf. Curiously she walked over to it and nudged it with her foot.

A small woof, let her know that it was Denver sitting under the chair. "Denver, what are you doing?"

He whined, hoping to let Elphaba know that he was hungry. Then he slowly crawled out from under the chair still lying on his belly. He looked around the kitchen and noticed that Elphaba was the only one in the room. His little human was still sleeping, which was fine, she was probably tired. He hoped she wasn't going to miss school, but there was probably a reason that Elphaba hadn't woken her up yet.

Elphaba nodded, and smiled. "Don't worry Denver, I'll find something for you to eat."

She went into the fridge and looked to see if they had any meat, Elphaba herself didn't eat any of that, but Glinda did. She found a pack of hotdogs and figured that it would be okay if Denver ate some. She knew that he couldn't eat her vegetarian stuff because dogs were by nature carnivores.

"Elphaba what are you doing?" Glinda asked as she walked into the kitchen and saw her friend trying to open a pack of hotdogs with just her hands.

"Denver is hungry," Elphaba said sheepishly. "I was going to feed him."

"Not like that you're not," Glinda said walking over to her. "Give me that, you're never going to get it open."

"Glinda I am stronger than you."

"You really wanna have that argument right now? In front of the dog?" Glinda said with mock severity pointing at Denver.

Denver just titled his head confused at why they wouldn't just give him the food.

"Fine," Elphaba said in mock defeat. "Work your magic, strong lady. I love you."

Glinda smiled and giggled. Then blushed at the last words Elphaba said. She took the hotdog package from her, opened the drawer beside the sink and grabbed out a pair of scissors. Then she cut a small hole in the corner of the package and pulled out one of the hotdogs and handed it to Denver who ate it happily. She fed him two more hotdogs before putting the pack back in the fridge.

"What should we do now? It's a while yet before either of us need to go to work," Glinda said.

"We'll I don't know about you," Elphaba said with a smile, "But I was thinking of making breakfast."

Glinda smiled and said, "Why don't you go ahead and wake up Arriane? I'm sure her parents would be happy if we fed her too."

"I'd rather let her sleep a little longer," Elphaba said. "I wanted to ask you something."

"Ask her to marry you," Arriane said from the door surprising them both.

"Arriane," Elphaba gasped and turned to her. "I thought you were asleep."

Arriane shook her head and walked over to them smiling at Denver. "I was. Now I'm not."

"Elphaba and I are not getting married," Glinda said quietly. "Not yet."

"You should," Arriane said with conviction. "You belong together."

"Belonging together does not mean we should get married," Glinda said.

"That isn't what I wanted to ask anyway. I-I was wondering if someday maybe…You'd like us to have a kid of our own someday," Elphaba said slightly stuttering from thinking that Glinda would immediately reject the idea.

"You should get married first," Arriane said. "It's useful."

Glinda sighed and then looked to Elphaba. "She's not going to give that up. Someday, maybe but it doesn't need to be now, and it doesn't need to be soon. It doesn't need to be at all."

"But you want one?" Elphaba asked quietly.

"I've always wanted one, or two," Glinda said with a smile and a nod.

"Can I have some of this carrot cake?" Arriane asked not caring that she was interrupting what probably would have been a tender heartfelt conversation at any other time.

"For breakfast? I don't think your parents would appreciate that," Elphaba said looking at her as she stood in front of the open refrigerator. "Why don't you have a sandwich or wait a little bit and I'll make some pancakes." Then Elphaba turned back to Glinda. "Why didn't you ever say anything about that before?"

Glinda shrugged. "It never really seemed appropriate? I didn't think you wanted kids."

Elphaba thought about that and nodded. "I can see why you would think that."

"Elphaba, what brought this up?" Glinda asked gently taking Elphaba's hand. "I'm worried about you."

Elphaba smiled and leaned down to kiss Glinda's cheek gently. "Don't worry, it's nothing bad. I just happened to think when putting Arriane to bed last night that it would be nice if some day we could do that for our own kid."

Glinda nodded, though she wasn't convinced that that was the only reason. "I'll be right back. I need to make a phone call."

Elphaba nodded and smiled. "Have fun."

Glinda headed off to the living room to make the phone call and Elphaba started gathering the things she needed to make breakfast.

"Hey, if you're vegetarian how come you have meat in your fridge?" Arriane asked.

"Because Glinda isn't vegetarian," Elphaba said reasonably. "Do you always ask so many questions?"

"Yes," Arriane said with a smile. "Because I'm curious."

"You know what they say about curiosity don't you? It killed the cat," Elphaba said.

"Yes, but satisfaction brought it back. Wouldn't that make the cat a zombie then? Or would it not because cats have nine lives?" Arriane smiled. She wandered around the kitchen for a moment then stopped when she noticed a picture taped to the side of one of the cabinets. It was an amazingly realistic picture of Elphaba. "Who drew this?"

"Glinda did," Elphaba said. "Glinda's always had a penchant for art. She drew that in our first year of college."

"It's beautiful," Arriane said. "Someday, I want to make art like that."

"You can do anything you put your mind to," Elphaba said with a smile. "I'm a pharmacist."

"That means you sell people medicine, right?" Arriane asked.

"Yes, there's a little more to it though," Elphaba said. "I went college to become a doctor, but became more interested in chemistry than the actual doctor parts of it. So I switched majors. I have a doctoral degree in medicinal chemistry."

"That means you are a doctor," Arriane said proudly. "Just a different kind of doctor."

Elphaba smiled. "That's exactly right."

"But shouldn't you be making the medicines not selling them?" Arriane asked. That would be exactly what a medicinal chemist would do. Or it should be. The book of jobs in the library said so.

"I also work at the library, and help my old professor at Shiz do experiments to attempt to make new medicines and solve medical and scientific problems," Elphaba said. "I don't just sell medicine to people. It's just my day job."

"Day job? Like a secret identity. You're just like a superhero!" Arriane bounced around for a moment. Denver joined her in bouncing around, but they both stopped when Elphaba sat a plate of pancakes on the table.

"I'm not a superhero," Elphaba said. "I'm just Elphaba."

"But you could be a superhero. You have a day job, you have a secret identity where you help your old teacher solve problems and solving those problems could really help people or even save lives! You really are a superhero," Arriane said with as much conviction as she had when she said that Elphaba and Glinda should get married.

"I guess you could think of it like that. Do you want syrup or butter for your pancakes?" Elphaba asked walking over to the pantry.

"Both!" Arriane chirped happily.


End file.
